Enhancement of the nonlinear optical response of Cu:Al{sub}2O{sub}3 nanocomposite films by multiple particle interaction effects

摘要

Metal-dielectric nanocomposites have received considerable attention over the last years as they exhibit prominent nonlinear optical properties. The latter have been pointed out as promising for several applications in the field of information technologies like all-optical switching, signal regeneration or high speed demultiplexing [1]. Particularly, very large third order nonlinear optical susceptibility values along with an ultrafast response time have been reported for Cu nanocomposites [2]. Recent theoretical studies also point out to the feasibility of achieving a large improvement of the nonlinear response of metal-dielectric nanocomposites via multiple particle interactions and giant local field enhancement effects. In spite of this, there are no previous studies reporting the non-linear response of Cu nanocomposites in a wide range of metal concentrations or nanocrystals dimensions.