Linear and nonlinear optical studies of Ag/Zn/ZnO nanocomposite thin film prepared by pulsed laser deposition technique

Abstract

Abstract Pulsed laser deposition technique was used to produce Zn/ZnO thin film and Ag/Zn/ZnO thin film by ablation of Zn metal with and without Ag metal in the evacuated chamber, respectively. The developing in the structure of Zn/ZnO thin film was carried by making an ablation of both metals at the same time, which helped to enhance the nonlinearity properties due to the local effect of Ag atoms and its nonlinearity property. The change of physicochemical properties after embedding the Zn/ZnO thin film with Ag layer was performance via X-ray diffraction, energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy, and UV–visible spectrophotometer, which illustrated the varying of their crystallinity, their elemental analysis, and their energy bandgap of the prepared samples. After that, an open and closed aperture Z-scan technique was used to determine the nonlinear absorption coefficient, nonlinear reflection coefficient, and the third-order nonlinearity susceptibility at 532\xa0nm. Based on these calculations, the Ag/Zn/ZnO thin film could be considered as a promising material in the photonic applications.