Effect of thickness on nonlinear absorption properties of graphite oxide thin films

Abstract We report the thickness dependent structural, linear and nonlinear optical properties of graphite oxide (GO) thin films synthesized by spin coating method. We observed that the structural, linear and nonlinear optical properties can be tuned by the film thickness in GO. The nonlinear absorption studies by open aperture z scan technique exhibited a saturable absorption. The nonlinear absorption coefficient and saturation intensity varies with film thickness which is attributed to increased localized defect states in the energy band gap. Our results emphasize relatively large thickness dependent optical nonlinearity of GO thin films and its potential for optical pulse generation, exploring the way to GO based nonlinear applications in Q switched mode locking laser systems. All the coated GO films were characterized by X-Ray diffraction method (XRD), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), Raman spectroscopy, UV-Vis absorption spectroscopy (UV-Vis), Photoluminescence (PL) and Scanning electron microscope (SEM) measurements.