Gold nanoparticles incorporated mesoporous silica thin films of varied gold contents and their well-tuned third-order optical nonlinearities

Gold nanoparticles (NPs) incorporated mesoporous silica thin films (MSTFs) of varied gold contents from 4.64 to 29.15 wt.% were synthesized through a refined chemical modification to the mesopore surface using different amounts of silane with amino end group. The microstructures of the composite thin films were characterized and the off-resonant third-order optical nonlinearities of the composite thin films were investigated by Z-scan technique at 1064 nm. The resultant composite thin films showed increased third-order optical nonlinear susceptibility (χ(3)) from 4.26 × 10−11 to 9.24 × 10−10 esu at increased gold contents. The dependence of χ(3) on gold content have been discussed, which can be described by an exponent function y = y0 + Ae−x/t when the gold contents of the composite thin films were below 30 wt.%.

► Gold nanoparticles incorporated mesoporous silica thin films of varied gold contents from 4.64 to 29.15 wt.% were synthesized. ► The films showed increased third-order optical nonlinear susceptibility χ(3) from 4.26 × 10−11 to 9.24 × 10−10 esu at increased gold contents. ► The dependence of χ(3) on gold content can be described by an exponent function when the gold contents were below 30 wt.%.