Laser beam shape and curvature radius of the laser wavefront passing through ZnO nanostructures

► Synthesizing 1D nanowires with an average diameter of 50-100 nm. ► Negative nonlinearity and large nonlinear refractive index are observed in the samples. ► The effect of the morphology on nonlinear optical properties of ZnO nanowires is investigated. ► The laser beam shape passing through ZnO nanowires in ethanol has been simulated.