Large and anisotropic third-order nonlinear optical response 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, for which its third-order nonlinear optical response was measured using a self-diffraction technique at 532 nm with 26 ps pulses. By adjusting the incident light’s polarization and the angular position of the nanocomposite, the measurements were related to 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, and establishing a relationship between these components.