Microstructures and third-order optical nonlinearities of Cu2In nanoparticles in glass matrix

The Cu2In nanoparticles have been successfully formed in the glass matrix (Na2O-B2O3-SiO2) by using sol-gel method. The structural, compositional and morphological characterizations were performed by X-ray diffraction (XRD), energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDS), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and selected area electron diffraction (SAED). Results showed that Cu2In nanoparticles with hexagonal structure were well distributed in the glass matrix. The Cu2In nanoparticles were spherical shaped and highly monodispersed with an average size of about 30.28 nm. The third-order optical properties of Cu2In nanoparticles embedded in glass matrix were investigated at 800 nm by using femtosecond Z-scan measurements. The nonlinear refraction indices of these nanoparticles were measured in order of 10−16 m2/W with negative sign and the nonlinear absorption coefficients were obtained in order of 10−10 m/W with positive sign. A possible formation mechanism for Cu2In nanoparticles in the glass matrix was also discussed.