Enhanced linear and nonlinear optical characteristics of cerium (Ce) doped ZnO film

ZnO and Ce-doped ZnO films with different doping concentrations (2, 4, and 6 wt%) were produced via SILAR technique, and the influence of the Ce amount on the structural, morphological, linear and nonlinear optical properties were examined in detail. Structural analyses conducted using X-ray diffraction (XRD) and Raman spectroscopy revealed the formation of hexagonal wurtzite pristine ZnO and Ce-doped ZnO nanostructures. The CeO2 phase was observed for only Ce6:ZnO samples by the XRD and Raman analyses. The morphological analyses were performed with a Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM), and it was found that the grain size decreased with Ce doping. The band gap energies decreased from 3.18eV to 2.67eV with increasing dopant (Ce) amount and increasing Urbach energy (EU). The dislocation density values (XRD) were calculated as 1.68x 10−4, 2.22x 10−4, 4.52x 10−4, and 8.65x 10−4 nm−2 for ZnO, Ce2:ZnO, Ce4:ZnO, and Ce6:ZnO, respectively, which is consistent with the increasing Urbach energy. The optical characteristics such as excitation and absorption coefficient, refractive index, dielectric constant, optical conductivity, the volume (VELF) and surface (SELF) energy loss functions were estimated. The third- order nonlinear susceptibility, and the nonlinear refractive index were calculated using Miller's generalized rule with linear refractive index and Wemple-DiDomenico (W-D) model. The χ(3) and n2 values increased with Ce influence compared to undoped ZnO film. Various methods have been used to obtain Ce:ZnO films, but the low-cost SILAR method has not been reported before, and the films produced via this method showed suitable behaviours for optoelectronic devices and nonlinear applications.