High-sensitivity measurements of the nonlinear absorption coefficient of wide bandgap oxide thin films with the Z-scan method

Abstract

The nonlinear response of wide bandgap oxide thin films gradually emerges and attracts attention with the development of an ultra-short and ultra-intense laser. In Z-scan technique, due to the extremely lower nonlinear response of thin film compared with the common substrate, it isn’t easy to measure the multiphoton absorption coefficient of wide bandgap oxide thin films. In this study, a method is proposed to suppress the substrate impact and improve the thin film measurement sensitivity. To make the thin film nonlinear intensity dominate the total intensity, including unwanted substrate impact, material and thickness of the substrate are analyzed. Considering the nonlinear effects of different substrates and the adhesion between the substrate and the thin film, 50 μm MgF2 and quartz glass are selected as the substrate for deposition. The nonlinear intensity of substrate is suppressed to at least 80% of the whole element or can even be ignored so that the normalized transmittance of the thin film can be obtained effectively. The two-photon and three-photon absorption coefficients of HfO2, Al2O3, and SiO2 thin film are measured at different wavelengths. The nonlinear absorption response measurements of wide bandgap oxide thin films can advance the design and fabrication of low-loss photonic devices in ultra-fast lasers.