Korean Journal of Materials Research ISSN:1225-0562(Print) 2287-7258(Online) 한국재료학회지

Well-crystallized vanadium pentoxide V₂O₅ thin films are fabricated on MgO single crystal substrates by using pulsed-laser deposition technique. The linear optical transmission spectra are measured and found to be in a wavelength range from 300 to 800 nm; the data are used to determine the linear refractive index of the V₂O₅ films. The value of linear refractive index decreases with increasing wavelength, and the relationship can be well explained by Wemple’s theory. The third-order nonlinear optical properties of the films are determined by a single beam z-scan method at a wavelength of 532 nm. The results show that the prepared V₂O₅ films exhibit a fast third-order nonlinear optical response with nonlinear absorption coefficient and nonlinear refractive index of 2.13 × 10⁻¹⁰ m/W and 2.07 × 10⁻¹⁵ cm²/kW, respectively. The real and imaginary parts of the nonlinear susceptibility are determined to be 3.03 × 10⁻¹¹ esu and 1.12 × 10⁻¹¹ esu, respectively. The enhancement of the nonlinear optical properties is discussed.