Optical and nonlinear optical characteristics of the Ge and GaAs nanoparticle suspensions prepared by laser ablation

The laser ablation of Ge and GaAs targets placed in water and ethanol was carried out using the fundamental radiation of nanosecond Nd:YLF laser. The results of preparation and the optical and nonlinear optical characterization of the Ge and GaAs nanoparticle suspensions are presented. The considerable shift of the band gap energy of the nanoparticles compared to the bulk semiconductors was observed. The distribution of nanoparticle sizes was estimated in the range of 1.5-10 nm on the basis of the TEM and spectral measurements. The nonlinear refractive indices and nonlinear absorption coefficients of Ge and GaAs nanoparticles were defined by the z-scan technique using second harmonic radiation of picosecond Nd:YAG laser (lambda = 532 nm). (c) 2006 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.