Plasmonic assisted two wave mixing phenomenon for energy transfer in ferroelectric PZT film

Abstract Ferroelectric – photorefractive PZT thin films have been exploited to study the energy transfer using pump probe technique for the development of optical delay lines. Two-wave mixing has been studied for three different PZT thin film samples deposited using pulsed laser deposition (PLD) technique. Uniform distribution of gold micro-discs of 40 nm thickness and 120 μm diameter over the surface of PZT thin film plays a vital role in enhancing the two-wave mixing. This is due to the ferroelectric domains present in PZT thin film which get polarized as a result of excited surface plasmons at the Au-PZT interface. The dual effect leads to an enhanced energy transfer from pump to ‘Probe Beam’. The maximum two-wave mixing gain was found to be about 1.185 and 1.055 respectively for gold micro-discs patterned and bare PZT thin film deposited on STO substrate. In comparison, the PZT thin film covered completely with the gold overlayer does not show any significant two wave mixing gain due to the scattering of light by Au overlayer.