Magnetic field induced changes in linear and nonlinear optical properties of Ti incorporated Cr2O3 nanostructured thin film

Highlights: • Cr₂O₃ multifunctional transparent oxide semiconductor is capable of coupling electric, magnetic and optical fields. • It can be used for making multifunctional devices. • Optical switches and optical memory elements require basic knowledge of dispersive optical nonlinearity. • We report magnetically controlled dispersive optical nonlinearity in the Ti-incorporated Cr₂O₃ thin film. - Abstract: We report the magnetic field effect on the linear and nonlinear optical properties of pulse laser ablated Ti-incorporated Cr₂O₃ nanostructured thin film. Optical properties have been experimentally analyzed under Voigt geometry by performing ultraviolet-visible spectroscopy and closed aperture Z-scan technique using a continuous wave He–Ne laser source. Nonlinear optical response reveals a single peak-valley feature in the far field diffraction pattern in absence of magnetic field ($B=0$) confirming self-defocussing effect. This feature switches to a valley-peak configuration for $B=5000\text{G}$, suggesting self-focusing effect. For $B\le 750\text{G}$, oscillations were observed revealing the occurrence of higher order nonlinearity. Origin of nonlinearity is attributed to the near resonant d-d transitions observed from the broad peak occurring around 2 eV. These transitions are of magnetic origin and get modified under the application of external magnetic field. Our results suggest that magnetic field can be used as an effective tool to monitor the sign of optical nonlinearity and hence the thermal expansion in Ti-incorporated Cr₂O₃ nanostructured thin film.