Tunable optical limiting action due to non-linear absorption in ZnO/Ag nanocomposites

ZnO/Ag nanocomposites with different silver concentration are successfully synthesized by solvothermal method. The characterization of the as- synthesized samples is done using XRD, UV-visible spectroscopy and HRTEM and the results indicate that the composites consist of silver nanoparticles attached to the ZnO nanoparticles. The optical non-linearity in these samples is studied using open aperture Z-scan technique and the experimental results agree well with a theoretical model involving two- photon absorption. It is found that the parameters of optical limiting can be tuned in a broad band by varying the silver concentration in the samples. © 2011 American Institute of Physics.