We report the synthesis of ZnO:Au hetero structures, their Raman scattering and optical power limiting efficiencies. ZnO:Au nanostructures with flower-like morphology were obtained by the self-assembly of ZnO nano entities using Au nanoparticles as seeds. Compared to ZnO nanostructures, ZnO:Au nanocomposites show enhanced UV emission and decrease in green emission. Increases in the intensities of Raman bands and multiphonon Raman bands of nano ZnO are observed substantially in the nanocomposites. Raman results further indicate that lattice vibrations of semiconductors are sensitive to the presence of metal nanoparticles. Open aperture Z-scan measurements carried out at 532 nm using 5 ns laser pulses reveal metal nanoparticle induced changes in the optical limiting properties of the nanocomposites.Fig. 7 Intensity dependent optical transmission of pure ZnO (ZAu0) and ZnO:Au nanocomposites (ZAu1, ZAu2), calculated from the open aperture Z-scan curves of the samples (given in insets) measured using 532 nm, 5 ns laser pulses (incident laser energy of 150 mJ). T norm. is the normalized transmittance. Circles are data points while solid lines are numerical fits based on eqn (6) (for ZAu0 and ZAu1) and eqn (8) (for ZAu2).This journal is
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