Heat treatment effect on the ultrafast dynamics and nonlinear optical properties of Ag : SSSi3N4 nanocermets

Abstract

Ag : Si3N4 nanocermets were fabricated by the magnetron cosputtering method and were thermally treated at different temperatures. The off-resonant third-order nonlinear susceptibilities were determined to be of the order of 10-10 esu at 800 nm by the optical Kerr effect experiment. Further time-resolved pump-probe researches prove that heat treatment is a feasible way to improve the performance of ultrafast response for this material. The research results demonstrate that in addition to the common use in microelectronics, the Si3N4 nanocermets are promising in future applications in optical communication and photoelectric fields. © 2006 IOP Publishing Ltd.