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Free-carrier absorption and optical limiting in the suspensions of CuS and Cu2O hollow spheres

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Abstract

In order to reveal the optical limiting mechanisms of semiconductor hollow spheres, the nonlinear optical properties of CuS and Cu2O hollow spheres were investigated via the fluence-dependent transmittance and the nonlinear scattering measurements. The CuS and Cu2O hollow spheres have similar morphologies and different types of optical band-gap. The experimental results show that the optical limiting performance of CuS is better than that of Cu2O, although the nonlinear scattering of Cu2O is stronger than that of CuS. Free-carrier absorption based on the delocalized carriers (holes) in CuS is believed to play an important role in the optical limiting effects. The merits of the structure of semiconductor hollow spheres used for optical limiting were discussed.

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Acknowledgments

The work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant Nos. 10674010, 10521002, 20673007, and 20633010), National Key Basic Research Special Foundation of China (2007CB307000 and 2007CB936201).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Physics & State Key Laboratory for Mesoscopic Physics, Peking University, Beijing, 100871, China

    Quanshui Li, Chunling Liu & Qihuang Gong

  2. Beijing National Laboratory for Molecular Sciences, State Key Laboratory for Structural Chemistry of Unstable and Stable Species, College of Chemistry, Peking University, Beijing, 100871, China

    Jining Gao & Limin Qi

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  1. Quanshui Li
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  2. Chunling Liu
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  3. Qihuang Gong
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  4. Jining Gao
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  5. Limin Qi
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Correspondence to Chunling Liu or Qihuang Gong.

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Li, Q., Liu, C., Gong, Q. et al. Free-carrier absorption and optical limiting in the suspensions of CuS and Cu2O hollow spheres. J Nanopart Res 11, 989–993 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11051-008-9532-7

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11051-008-9532-7

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