Alejandra López-Suárez

Anisotropic linear and nonlinear optical properties from anisotropy-controlled metallic nanocomposites

High-energy metallic ions were implanted in silica matrices, obtaining spherical-like metallic nanoparticles (NPs) after a proper thermal treatment. These NPs were then deformed by irradiation with Si ions, obtaining an anisotropic metallic nanocomposite. An average large birefringence of 0.06 was measured for these materials in the 300-800 nm region. Besides, their third order nonlinear optical response was measured using self-diffraction and P-scan techniques at 532 nm with 26 ps pulses. By adjusting the incident lights polarization and the angular position of the nanocomposite, the measurements could be directly related to, at least, two of the three linear independent components of its third order susceptibility tensor, finding a large, but anisotropic, response of around 10(-7) esu with respect to other isotropic metallic systems. For the nonlinear optical absorption, we were able to shift from saturable to reverse saturable absorption depending on probing the Au NPs major or minor axes, respectively. This fact could be related to local field calculations and NPs electronic properties. For the nonlinear optical refraction, we passed from self-focusing to self-defocusing, when changing from Ag to Au.

Modification of the nonlinear optical absorption and optical Kerr response exhibited by nc-Si embedded in a silicon-nitride film

We studied the absorptive and refractive nonlinearities at 532 nm and 26 ps pulses for silicon-nitride films containing silicon nanoclusters (nc-Si) prepared by remote plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition (RPECVD). Using a self-diffraction technique, we measured for the as-grown sample beta=7.7x10(-9)m/W, n(2)=1.8x10(-16)m(2)/W, and /chi(3)1111/ = 4.6x10(-10)esu; meanwhile, when the sample was exposed to an annealing process at 1000 degrees C during one hour in a nitrogen atmosphere, we obtained beta=-5x10(-10)m/W, n2=9x10(-17)m(2)/W, and /chi(3)1111/=1.1x10(-10)esu. A pure electronic nonlinear refraction was identified and a large threshold ablation of 41 J/cm(-2) was found for our films. By fitting nonlinear optical transmittance measurements, we were able to estimate that the annealed sample exhibits a response time close to 1 fs. We report an enhancement in the photoluminescence (PL) signal after the annealing process, as well as a red-shift due to an increment in size of the nc-Si during the thermal process.

Thermo-optic effect and optical third order nonlinearity in nc-Si embedded in a silicon-nitride film

Using a self-diffraction experiment with 7ns pulses at 532nm we studied a silicon nitride film containing silicon nanoclusters (nc-Si) of 3.1+/-0.37 nm mean size. The sample was prepared by remote plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition (RPECVD), and we found that its nonlinearity consists of a combination of electronic and thermal contributions. By varying the repetition rate of the laser, we discriminated the responsible mechanisms for the nonlinear response. Using this procedure we determined a total /chi((3))1111/ = 3.3x10(-10)esu, n2 = 2.7x10(-16) m(2)/W, beta = 1x10(-9) m/W and dn/dT =1x10(-4) degrees C(-1) for our sample. We also show results for the optical Kerr effect using 80 fs pulses at 820 nm. The purely electronic nonlinearity measured is characterized by /chi((3))1111/=9.5 x10(-11) esu.

Analysis of hydrogen absorption by Ti and Ti-6Al-4V using the ERDA technique

Abstract Ti and Ti–6Al–4V alloy samples were hydrogenated at different temperatures from 150°C to 750°C. They were analyzed using elastic recoil detection analysis (ERDA) with 3 MeV α particles and Rutherford Backscattering Spectrometry (RBS) with 6.585 MeV α particles. ERDA shows an increase in the amount of hydrogen absorbed for temperatures greater than 550°C in both materials, reaching concentrations of almost 3×10 22 H atoms/cm 3 . The Ti shows cracks after hydrogenation and loses its mechanical properties; not so the Ti–6Al–4V alloy. A subsequent loss of hydrogen was measured in all the samples after several months.

A study of atmospheric aerosols from five sites in Mexico city using PIXE

Abstract Atmospheric aerosol samples collected in five sites in the Metropolitan Area of Mexico City were analyzed with proton induced X-ray emission (PIXE). Stacked Filter Units (SFU) of the Davis design were employed to obtain samples of fine aerosols (smaller than 2.5 μm Mean Aerodynamic Diameter) on polycarbonate filters. The study was conducted during the first half of 1996 (16 weeks, from 31st January to 6th June), exposing the filters once a week, from 8:00 to 14:00 h. PIXE analyses of the filters using a 2 MeV proton beam produced by the Instituto de Fisica, UNAM, 5.5 MV Van de Graaff accelerator were compared with those carried out using a 2.2 MeV proton beam from the 56 cm isochronous cyclotron at the Universidad de Chile, showing a good correlation between both laboratories. Analysis of variance of the measured elemental concentrations showed differences in the mean concentrations for several elements at the sampling sites. Comparisons with other studies are also given.

Collective optical Kerr effect exhibited by an integrated configuration of silicon quantum dots and gold nanoparticles embedded in ion-implanted silica.

The study of the third-order optical nonlinear response exhibited by a composite containing gold nanoparticles and silicon quantum dots nucleated by ion implantation in a high-purity silica matrix is presented. The nanocomposites were explored as an integrated configuration containing two different ion-implanted distributions. The time-resolved optical Kerr gate and z-scan techniques were conducted using 80 fs pulses at a 825 nm wavelength; while the nanosecond response was investigated by a vectorial two-wave mixing method at 532 nm with 1 ns pulses. An ultrafast purely electronic nonlinearity was associated to the optical Kerr effect for the femtosecond experiments, while a thermal effect was identified as the main mechanism responsible for the nonlinear optical refraction induced by nanosecond pulses. Comparative experimental tests for examining the contribution of the Au and Si distributions to the total third-order optical response were carried out. We consider that the additional defects generated by consecutive ion irradiations in the preparation of ion-implanted samples do not notably modify the off-resonance electronic optical nonlinearities; but they do result in an important change for near-resonant nanosecond third-order optical phenomena exhibited by the closely spaced nanoparticle distributions.

Nonlinear optical spectroscopy of isotropic and anisotropic metallic nanocomposites

In this work, we studied the nonlinear absorption and refraction of isotropic and anisotropic metallic nanocomposites, which consist of Au and Ag nanoparticles (NPs) embedded in matrices of SiO2. We performed this study at different wavelengths using the Z-scan technique in the picosecond regime. The wavelengths were selected accordingly to the absorption spectra of the nanocomposites, choosing wavelengths into the inter- and intra-band transitions regions, including the surface plasmon (SP) resonance, as well as in the transparent region. For the anisotropic nanocomposites, the polarization and the incident angle were varied in order to evaluate the different components of the third order susceptibility tensor, χ(3). We observed dramatic changes of sign for both, nonlinear refraction and absorption, when passing from Au to Ag and/or varying the wave length. The results accentuate the importance of the hot-electrons contribution to the nonlinear optical response at this temporal regime, when compared to inter-band and intra-band transitions contributions.

Modulation of the propagation speed of mechanical waves in silicon quantum dots embedded in a silicon-nitride film

Using a vectorial picosecond self-diffraction method, we evaluate the modification of the speed of the sound in a silicon-nitride film containing silicon quantum dots prepared by remote plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition. Our non-contact technique is based on the stimulation of the electrostriction contribution to the nonlinearity of index exhibited by the sample in a multiwave mixing laser experiment. We identified the electronic birefringence using two of the incident beams to generate a self-diffraction signal, then, we modified the third order nonlinear response by means of the optical Kerr effect given by a phase-mismatched third beam which induced electrostriction. Our results indicated that the speed of the sound in a silicon-nitride film can be simultaneously tailored by an electronic nonlinear refractive index, and by an electrostriction effect, both resulting from silicon quantum dots doping.

Energy-Dependent Deformation of Colloidal Silica Nanoparticles under Room Temperature Irradiation with MeV Si Ions

Spherical submicrometer-sized silica particles were prepared from a reaction mixture containing tetraethoxysilane, ammonia and ethanol, and deposited onto silicon wafers. The properties of these SiO2 particles depend on their size, size distribution and shape. Even if some of these characteristics can be perfectly controlled by appropriate synthesis conditions, several alternative approaches must be explored in order to modify the shape of silica particles. The samples were then irradiated at room temperature with Si ions at different energies (4, 6 and 8 MeV) and fluences up to 5×1015 Si/cm2, at an angle of 45° with respect to the sample surface. After the Si irradiation the spherical silica particles turned into ellipsoidal particles, as a result of the increase of the particle dimension perpendicular to the ion beam and a decrease in the parallel direction. This effect increases with the ion fluence and depends on the electronic energy loss of the impinging ions. We observed that the particle deformation decreases with the beam energy, mainly because our samples were irradiated at room temperature. Thermal effects must be studied in detail in order to elucidate the complete deformation mechanism, as the existence of additional mechanisms related to the electronic energy loss effects can not be excluded.