Nonlinear optical behavior of DNA-functionalized gold nanoparticles

The third-order nonlinear optical properties of gold nanoparticles embedded in the DNA-based composites were investigated by means of the third harmonic generation. With this purpose, the thin films comprising DNA-based complexes and Au nanoparticles were spin-deposited on glass substrate and their optical and nonlinear optical features were studied using the Maker-fringe technique at a laser fundamental wavelength of 1064 nm. The values of the third-order susceptibility χ⁽³⁾(− 3ω; ω, ω, ω) of the composite films based on DNA complex doped with 5 wt% of N-ethyl-N-(2-hydroxyethyl)-4-(4-nitrophenylazo)aniline were found to be significantly higher than those for pure composite films. Meanwhile, the presence of Au nanoparticles noticeable decreases the third-order nonlinear response of DNA-based composite mainly due to the enhanced absorption and scattering of laser and generated beam, respectively.