Size-dependent nonlinear optical properties and thermal lens in silver nanoparticles

We have investigated the nonlinear response of the silver nanoparticle samples in a low-power regime of electromagnetic field based on nonlocal thermo-optic models. In this work, the experimental investigation of the thermo-optic nonlinear response of Ag colloids containing different size of silver nanoparticles is reported. The colloidal nanoparticle samples were synthesized by nanosecond pulsed laser ablation of Ag bulk in acetone. The sample containing Ag was characterized by linear absorption spectroscopy and transmission electron microscopy. Using the z-scan technique, the behavior of thermal nonlinear refractive index of colloid was studied at different concentrations of silver nanoparticles. Observation of asymmetrical configurations of the z-scan data indicates that nonlinear refraction occurring in the Ag samples is related to the thermo-optical process. The optical limiting here is due to nonlinear refraction of the samples arising from thermal lens formation under low-power CW excitation. When the laser power is low, the self-defocusing effect is mainly dominated by surface plasmon resonance effect. Results show that with increasing concentration of nanoparticles in acetone, the nonlinear refractive index increases while the threshold power of optical limiting decreases.