Field enhancement and large optical nonlinearity in Ag nanocomposite polymer film

Abstract

We report a simple in situ synthesis for Ag nanocomposite polymer film. The extinction spectrum and the distribution of the local field intensities for Ag nanoparticles are performed by means of the dipole discrete approximation. The local field intensity is enhanced over 20 times to that of the incident light at the peak wavelength of the extinction spectrum. Nonlinear optical measurements, performed by using the Z-scan techniques, are presented afterwards. Giant enhancement of nonlinear optical responses is found for Ag/PMMA film compared with pure PMMA (polymethyl methacrylate) film. The nonlinear refractive index γ of the Ag/PMMA film is measured to be 3.708 × 10⁻² cm² GW⁻¹. The enhanced optical properties are due to the surface plasmon resonance of Ag nanoparticles. These results are in agreement with the previous field calculations. Analyzed with respect to Stegeman figures of merit, Ag/PMMA nonlinear polymer film shows promise for practical use in ultrafast optical devices.

Keywords:

• metal nanocomposite
• optical nonlinearity
• discrete dipole approximation
• Z-scan techniques

Acknowledgement

The project is supported by the Scientific Research Foundation of the Anhui University of Architecture.