Measurement of two-photon absorption by gold nanoparticles of different sizes photodeposited onto the core of an optical fibre

In this work, the study of two-photon absorption by gold nanoparticles of different diameters photodeposited onto the core of a single-mode optical fibre is presented. The photodeposition of nanoparticles with diameters of 10, 20, 50 and 100 nm was achieved using a continuous wave laser at a wavelength of 1550 nm and a power of 50 mW. Nonlinear optical characterization was carried out by using the P-scan technique of a high gain erbium doped fibre amplifier with pulses of 20 ns at a frequency of 10 kHz, that provides a maximum intensity of approximately 60 MW/cm2. The results show that for gold nanoparticles greater than 20 nm photodeposited onto the fibre, in both cases, the nonlinear coefficient as well as the third-order susceptibility increase as the diameter of the nanoparticles increases, describing a typical behaviour of the two-photon absorption. The obtained results can be used for the design of filters and optical limiters in the communications area.