Investigation of Intensity Dependent Nonlinear Absorption in Cerium Phosphate Nanorods

Abstract

Cerium Phosphate (CePO4) is a material that has attracted attention because of its unique properties, redox capabilities, and a wide variety of applications. Cerium Phosphate nanoparticles with a nanorod structure were successfully synthesized by a hydrothermal synthesis procedure using Cerium Nitrate Hexahydrate (Ce (NO3)3.6H2O) and Diammonium Hydrogen Phosphate ((NH4)2HPO4) as the precursors without adding any surfactants. The synthesized CePO4 nanorods were characterized using X-ray Powder Diffraction (XRD) and Transmission Electron Microscopy (TEM) analysis which showed pure monoclinic nanorod structures. The linear absorption was analyzed by UV-visible absorption spectrometry. The nonlinear absorption was measured by the open aperture Z-scan technique using a Q switched Nd-YAG laser at 532nm. The Z-scan curve exhibited reverse saturable absorption. In this study, the dependence of nonlinear absorption of CePO4 on the intensity of incident light was investigated. The non-linear absorption coefficient was measured and it was found that the non-linear absorption decreased with the increasing intensity.