The study of noble metal nanoparticles applied on third-order nonlinear optical nanocomposite materials

¹ Research Center for Engineering Technology of Polymeric Composites of Shangxi, North University of China, Taiyuan 030051, P.R. China
² Department of Polymer Science and Engineering, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei, Anhui 230026, P.R. China

^a e-mail: syyi@nuc.edu.cn

Received: 10 October 2010
Revised: 1 March 2011
Accepted: 29 July 2011
Published online: 28 September 2011

Abstract

Recent theoretical progress in understanding the nonlinear optical response of noble metal nanocomposite materials with an enhanced third-order nonlinear susceptibility was reviewed. The enhanced third-order nonlinear susceptibility results from the surface plasmon resonance (SPR) of noble metal nanoparticles. And then the enhancement strongly depends on irradiation light wavelength, concentration and surrounding medium of noble metal particles. Furthermore, their applications as optical switchers with ultrashort time response and optical limiters of intense laser radiation were also reviewed. Moreover, the enhancement mechanism of third-order nonlinear susceptibility, and physical process was further discussed in detail, which was very important for further improvement of third-order nonlinear susceptibility and application on optical switchers and optical limiters for noble metal nanoparticles.