Bidirectional optical Kerr transmittance in a bilayer nanocomposite with Au nanoparticles and carbon nanotubes

Experimental and numerical results about the propagation of optical signals in a bidirectional two-wave mixing system with Au nanocomposites and carbon nanotubes are presented. Au nanoparticles embedded in a TiO₂ thin solid film were prepared by a sol–gel processing route; while carbon nanotubes were obtained by a thermal decomposition approach. A thin film conformed by carbon nanotubes was put on top of the Au nanocomposites for the nonlinear optical measurements. A two-wave mixing experiment was conducted to distinguish the direction of propagation of a probe-beam through the exploration of an induced birefringence and two-photon absorption. The third-order nonlinear optical response of the sample was evaluated by considering discrete groups of energy numerically modeled by the beam propagation method. Remarkable differences exhibited by the propagation and counter-propagation of a polarized probe beam were identified by nanosecond pulses at 532 nm wavelength. By employing a 405 nm wavelength as a probe beam, we were able to change the behavior of the direction of maximum Kerr transmittance in a particular geometry of a non-degenerated multi-wave system. It can be contemplated that the influence of distinctive near- and off-resonant excitations of the samples seems to be useful to control a selective one-way transmittance with potential applications for developing all-optical systems. (paper)