Wenzhi Wu

All-optical switching with 1-ps response time in a DDMEBT enabled silicon grating coupler/resonator hybrid device

An amorphous film of the third-order nonlinear optical material DDMEBT was spun onto silicon chips for the first time, filling 80 nm lithographic features. A 710 μm² device was designed, fabricated, and tested that acts both as a nonlinear resonator switch and as an input/output grating coupler to a perfectly vertical single mode fiber. Autocorrelation and spectral measurements indicate the device has <1 ps response time, 4 nm of switching bandwidth, and 4 dB of on/off contrast. With sufficient power, this all-optical device can potentially modulate a single optical carrier frequency in excess of 1 THz.

Temperature and composition dependent excitonic luminescence and exciton-phonon coupling in CdSeS nanocrystals

The yellow- and red-emitting CdSeS nanocrystals (NCs) synthesized through one-step organometallic synthesis method are uniformly assembled in polymethyl methacrylate (PMMA). A higher-energy emission band originates from band-edge excitonic state appeared at low temperature. With the Se dopant concentration increasing, the luminescent spectra of CdSeS NCs have a red-shifted emission peak and a shorter luminescent lifetime, which is attributed to the existence of trapping state caused by surface defect and Se dopant. CdSeS NC shows a shorter luminescence lifetime and higher energy emission peak in PMMA matrix than that in toluene, indicating that the former is more favorable to transfer energy through exciton-phonon coupling. The upconversion luminescence (UCL) is observed using 800 nm femtosecond laser excitation. The pump power dependence demonstrated UCL spectra of yellow-emitting CdSeS NCs has a slope of 2.2, while that of red-emitting CdSeS NCs has a slope of 1.4. The results demonstrate that the two-photon absorption plays a dominating role when Se concentration of CdSeS NCs is lower, while phonon-assisted UCL by one-photon excitation gradually takes place with the amount of Se dopants increasing.

Nonlinear Absorptions of CdSeTe Quantum Dots under Ultrafast Laser Radiation

The oil-soluble alloyed CdSeTe quantum dots QDs are prepared by the electrostatic method. The basic properties of synthesized CdSeTe QDs are characterized by UV-Vis absorption spectroscopy, photoluminescence spectroscopy, inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry, and transmission electron microscope. The off-resonant nonlinear optical properties of CdSeTe QDs are studied by femtosecond Z-scan at 1 kHz low-repetition rate and 84 MHz high-repetition rate. Nonlinear absorption coefficients are calculated under different femtosecond laser excitations. Due to the long luminescent lifetime of CdSeTe QDs, under the conditions of high-repetition rate, for open-aperture curve, heat accumulation and bleaching of ground state are responsible for the decrease of two-photon absorption TPA coefficient.

Ultrafast carrier dynamics and coherent acoustic phonons in bulk CdSe.

The femtosecond pump-probe technique is used to study the dynamics of photoexcited carriers and coherent acoustic phonons in bulk CdSe semiconductor. A turning point from fast to slow decay is observed, whose amplitude decreases with pump fluences and eventually flips the sign of differential reflectivity. The maximum change of differential reflectivity shows a saturation at high pump fluences, which is attributed to the optical energy gap dependent on carrier density. Long-lasting coherent oscillations of acoustic phonons have also been detected, and their amplitude and lifetime have a strong dependence on pump fluences. Our results can facilitate the understanding of ultrafast carrier and phonon dynamics in CdSe nanocrystals.

Carrier dynamics and optical nonlinearity of alloyed CdSeTe quantum dots in glass matrix

Size and pump-fluence dependent ultrafast carrier dynamics of CdSeTe QDs are investigated using femtosecond pump-probe techniques operating at two different repetition rates: 1 kHz (low-repetition rate), and 76 MHz (high-repetition rate). With a low-repetition rate laser and 3.1 eV excitation photon energy, multiple exciton generation (MEG) is observed and the optical responses of alloyed QDs clearly show three components: a fast decay ascribed to carrier recombination, an intermediate component associated with MEG decay, and a slow decay associated with radiative Auger recombination. With a high-repetition rate laser and excitation photon energy resonant with band-edge energy, obvious coherent phonon oscillations are observed in 4 nm CdSeTe QDs due to impulsive stimulated Raman scattering. Open-aperture Z-scan measurement is used to clarify the size and pump-fluence dependence of optical nonlinearity under femtosecond laser excitation. With increasing laser power, an evolution from saturable absorption to reverse saturable absorption in CdSeTe QDs is observed. The transition process is analyzed using a phenomenological model based on nonlinear absorption coefficient and saturation intensity. These results indicate that CdSeTe QDs in a glass matrix are a class of materials for potential application in all-optical switching devices.

Reversible ultrafast melting in bulk CdSe

In this work, transient reflectivity changes in bulk CdSe have been measured with two-color femtosecond pump-probe spectroscopy under a wide range of pump fluences. Three regions of reflectivity change with pump fluences have been consistently revealed for excited carrier density, coherent phonon amplitude, and lattice temperature. For laser fluences from 13 to 19.3 mJ/cm2, ultrafast melting happens in first several picoseconds. This melting process is purely thermal and reversible. A complete phase transformation in bulk CdSe may be reached when the absorbed laser energy is localized long enough, as observed in nanocrystalline CdSe.

Optical limiting of platinum nanoparticle stabilized by C 60 derivative

The optical limiting performance of platinum nanoparticle protected by C60 derivative was investigated by using 8-ns laser pulses at a wavelength of 532nm. The investigation indicated the sample could provide enhanced optical limiting even better than benchmark optical limiting material, fullerene C60 dissolved in toluene. The origins of the strong optical limiting were discussed based on reverse saturable absorption and nonlinear scattering.