Nonlinear optical response of silicon nanocrystals

Abstract Experimental results are presented related to the nonlinear optical response of silicon nanocrystals under visible nsec laser excitation. The nanocrystals were examined in water and glycerol suspensions and as was shown, they exhibit saturable absorption and negative nonlinear refraction. Finally, in the case of the glycerol suspensions and under sufficiently high incident intensity, the formation of bubbles was found to cause a serious modification of the sample’s transmission.