Large third-order optical nonlinearities in iron oxide thin films synthesized by reactive pulsed laser deposition

We report on a study of the third-order nonlinear optical properties of Fe2O3 thin films, grown by the method of laser deposition on silica (SiO2) substrates. The films were synthesized on substrates at different temperatures (293 K and 800 K) and under different oxygen pressures (0.1 Pa, 0.5 Pa, 1.0 Pa). The resulting films were amorphous, if grown on cold substrates (293 K), or polycrystalline otherwise. The third-order optical susceptibility χ(3) of the films was determined by the Z-scan method at the wavelengths of 1064 nm and 532 nm and the laser pulse width of 20 ns. Remarkably high χ(3) values on the order of 10−4 esu at 1064 nm are obtained. The results show that Fe2O3 thin films are promising nonlinear materials for contemporary optoelectronics.