Sol-gel derived glass nanocomposites embedded with phase-controlled Cu-Ni nanostructures and their optical nonlinearities

We report the feasible fabrication of sodium borosilicate (NBS) glasses embedded with phase-controlled Cu-Ni nanostructures using a sol-gel route plus varying gas. Microstructural investigations demonstrate that the oxygen produce randomly distributed CuO-NiO nanostructures whereas upon reduction atmosphere Cu0.81Ni0.19 alloy nanostructure is generated in glass host. Interestingly, both of the two glasses exhibit effective reverse saturable absorption effect and self-focusing performance, presenting potential for use in nonlinear optical devices. Then, the mechanism on the nonlinear response is also discussed.