Effects of host and particle shape on the optical nonlinearities of nanocomposites

Effects of host and particle shape on the third-order optical nonlinearities of ZnO nanorods and ZnO nanoparticles were studied by using Z-scan technique with nanosecond pulses at 532 nm. The experimental results show that the third-order optical nonlinearities of ZnO nanorods are bigger than that of ZnO nanoparticles. Experimental results show that ZnO nanorods water suspension exhibits bigger third-order nonlinear optical nonlinearity than that of ZnO nanorods ethanol suspension. The experimental results show that the third-order nonlinear optical performances strongly dependent on the shape and host of the nanomaterials as described by the Maxwell–Garnett Effective Medium Theory, MGT.