Influence of Roughness Surfaces on Third-Order Nonlinear-Optical Properties of Erbium-Doped Zinc Oxide Thin Films

ABSTRACT

Zinc oxide (ZnO) and erbium-doped zinc oxide (ZnO:Er) thin films were deposited on heated glass substrates using the spray pyrolysis technique. Third-order nonlinear-optical properties of the thin films have been investigated using the third harmonic generation (THG) at wavelength of 1064 nm in picosecond regime. The dependence of third-order nonlinear susceptibility and transmission characteristics on the thin films roughness has been evaluated. Third-order nonlinear optical susceptibility (χ⁽³⁾) values of the studied materials were in the remarkable range of 10⁻² esu. The morphologic properties of the deposited films have been analyzed using x-ray diffraction (XRD) and atomic force microscopy (AFM) and the luminescence properties by cathodoluminescence (CL). A correlation between optical properties and structural properties is given.

KEYWORDS:

• spray
• zinc oxide
• nonlinear optical susceptibility
• roughness surface

ACKNOWLEDGMENT

This work is supported by project PROTARS III (D12/09).