Large spatial self-phase modulation in castor oil enhanced by gold nanoparticles

Abstract

Spatial self-phase modulation was observed when a CW laser beam propagated along a cell containing castor oil. The minimum power needed to excite this effect decreases when the sample length is increased, as well as when the laser wavelength approaches to the absorption band of the medium. The same phenomenon was also observed when a laser beam interacts with a colloidal solution of gold nanoparticles in castor oil. For this system the self-phase modulation minimum power decreased dramatically, which indicates that the nonlinear refractive index for this system is enhanced due to the gold nanoparticles. Moreover, for laser wavelength near to the plasmon resonance of the gold nanoparticles, this enhancement factor is even higher. Although the large value of those media nonlinearity, its temporal response is slow. This fact suggests that this phenomenon is due to thermal effects mainly.