Evaluation of nonlinear optical properties of cadmium chalcogenide nanomaterials

Abstract High quality semiconductor nanomaterials were synthesized through colloidal methods, and evaluated nonlinear optical properties for optical power limiting applications. The nonlinear refraction ( γ ) and the nonlinear figure of merit (FOM= γ / βλ ) of CdTe nanomaterials in toluene (∼8×10 −5 mol/l ) were estimated to be ∼−1×10 −13 m 2 / W and ∼200, respectively. The optical power limiting through CdTe nanoscale materials was mainly by the nonlinear refraction because of the high nonlinear FOM.