Vanadium pentoxide nanostructures doped in nematic liquid crystal with different compositional percentages and shapes: Nonlinear optical properties

Abstract

In this study, spherical and wire-shaped vanadium pentoxide (V₂O₅) nanostructures with various compositional percentages were doped in the E7 nematic liquid crystal (NLC). The Z-scan technique with both vertical and parallel polarized incident laser beams was used to investigate the nonlinearity of pure and doped NLC with nanoparticles and nanowires. The experimental findings demonstrate that the dopant's form and varying their compositional percentage can alter the nonlinear optical responses of E7. A 1 % W/W ratio of wire-shaped nanostructures and a 0.5 % W/W ratio of spherical nanostructures doped in NLC demonstrated improved nonlinearity. Due to isotropic structure, nonlinear optical characteristics of spherical nanoparticles were insensitive to the light polarization direction, and the self-focusing behavior was observed for both polarizations. However, due to the anisotropic structure of the nanowires, the incident laser beam's polarization direction had a significant impact on the doped NLC's nonlinear optical characteristics. The self-focusing and self-defocusing behavior was observed in both the parallel and vertical polarization.