Investigation on optical properties of ZnO nanowires by electron energy-loss spectroscopy

Electron energy-loss spectroscopy (EELS) and ab initio band structure calculations have been performed to determine the optical properties of wurtzite structured zinc oxide (ZnO) nanowires. Compared with other techniques, EELS significantly extends the energy range and is a useful technique for analysis of the dielectric properties on a microstructure level. The first-principles calculations allow deep insight into the experimental results. Furthermore, the polarization dependencies of optical properties have been discussed. Our results give some reference to the thorough understanding of optical properties of ZnO.