Preparation of TeOx–SiO2 film with excellent third-order nonlinear optical properties by electrochemically induced sol–gel method

TeOx–SiO2 composite films having third-order nonlinearities were prepared by electrochemically induced sol–gel deposition method on ITO substrate. The third-order optical nonlinearities of the films were measured by Z-scan technique. The third-order nonlinear susceptibilities (χ(3)) of the as-prepared films are 5.9 × 10−7 to 4.29 × 10−6 esu. The surface morphology and composition of the films were characterized by SEM/EDX, which identified that Te metallic particles well dispersed in TeOx–SiO2 gel films.