Solid-immersion-lens-enhanced nonlinear frequency-variation mapping of a silicon integrated-circuit Appl. Phys. Lett. 99, 193103 (2011) A microfiber cavity with minimal-volume confinement Appl. Phys. Lett. 99, 051105 (2011) Lead silicate glass microsphere resonators with absorption-limited Q Appl. Phys. Lett. 98, 181105 (2011) Full band structure calculation of two-photon indirect absorption in bulk silicon Appl. Phys. Lett. 98, 131101 (2011) Geometry and quadratic nonlinearity of charge transfer complexes in solution: A theoretical study J. Chem. Phys. 134, 044534 (2011) Additional information on J. Appl. Phys. We have investigated the third-order nonlinearity in ZnO nanocolloids with particle sizes in the range 6-18 nm by the z-scan technique. The third-order optical susceptibility ͑3͒ increases with increasing particle size ͑R͒ within the range of our investigations. In the weak confinement regime, an R 2 dependence of ͑3͒ is obtained for ZnO nanocolloids. The optical limiting response is also studied against particle size.