Large pure refractive nonlinearity of nanostructure silica aerogel

Abstract

The nonlinear refraction coefficient of silica aerogel was estimated to be ∼−1.5×10−15 m2/W (∼−3.67×10−9 esu) with a signal-beam z-scan spectroscopy. The third-order nonlinear refraction coefficient of nanostructure silica aerogel was almost five orders larger than the nonlinear refraction (χ3) of bulk material. The large nonlinear refraction with high nonlinear figure of merit is an ideal optical property for nonlinear optical applications.

Third-order Optical Nonlinearities of Singlewall Carbon Nanotubes for Nonlinear Transmission Limiting Application

“…A typical peak power density at the focal point of the Z-scan was ~1.6 MW/cm 2 . Fitting with the nonlinear transmittance equations in our previous article to the closed and open Z-scan measurements [7], the nonlinear refraction ( ) and nonlinear absorption ( ) coefficients of the carbon SWNT thin film were revealed to be ~ - …”

Scattering by many small particles and creating materials with a desired refraction coefficient

“…In particular, one can create materials with negative refraction. Such materials are of interest in many applications, see, e.g., Seo et al (2003), Shonbrun et al (2005), von Rhein et al (2007), Gregorchyk et al (2005), and Hansen (2009).…”

Sol–gel simulation—I: Scattering response

“…Thus, using the recursion in Eqs. (21) and (22), the scattering intensity can be found for any structure, percolated or not.…”

“…Only the scattering function S(q) is required to calculate the scattering intensity for any value of q using Eqs. (21) and (22).…”

“…This technology uses colloidal aggregation [10][11][12][13][14][15][16][17][18][19][20][21][22][23][24][25][26][27], which after the removal of the liquid phase leaves a solid ceramic structure [28,12]. Extracting the liquid phase of the colloid gently, e.g.…”