Optical Non-linear Characterization of V2O3 for Applications in Intensive Optical Radiation Systems

Abstract

Vanadium oxideV2O3 thin films were synthesized by sol-gel spin coating method, and investigated by XRD, FE-SEM, EDAX, and UV-Vis-NIR spectroscopies. XRD and EDAX analysis has confirmed that the initial powdered orthorhombic V2O5 compound dissolved in H2O2 solution, heat treated at ≈ 70 0 C and spin-coated has been transformed into monoclinic V2O3-phase thin films, resulting in free V 3+ ion Formation. The morphology and optical analysis of the obtained films revealed that the grain size increases, and the gap energy decreases while the static refractive index changes, passing through a maximum value at 350 nm. The changes in non-linear refractive index n2, third-order polarizability χ (3), and F-function with light energy consist of the two-photon absorption and intensity-dependent refractive index conditions of optical non-linear characteristics. The maximum values of 7.67x10 -11 and 5.08x10 -12 esu attained at the film thickness of 350 nm of n2, χ (3) , respectively as a result of the compromise of different factors, such as the bound oxygen bonds and free ions, refractive index, localized state density, and number of crystallites, are better than the corresponding reported results for some oxide, chalcogenide, and organic materials.