Femtosecond nonlinear refraction of 2D semi-metallic redox exfoliated ZrTe2 at 800 nm
Melissa Maldonado, Manoel L. da Silva-Neto, Pilar G. Vianna, Henrique B. Ribeiro, Cid B. de Araújo, Christiano J. S. de Matos, Leandro Seixas, Ali M. Jawaid, Robert Busch, Allyson J. Ritter, Richard A. Vaia, Anderson S. L. Gomes
Abstract
Zirconium telluride, a transition metal dichalcogenide, was synthesized by a redox exfoliated method to obtain a 2D monolayer semi-metal. After being characterized for compositional and optical analysis, its third-order nonlinear optical (NLO) properties were studied by the Z-scan technique in the femtosecond (100 fs) regime at 800 nm. Interestingly, in this spectro-temporal regime and in the intensity range exploited, the only third-order NLO effect observed was nonlinear refraction, giving rise to a positive value of the nonlinear refractive index coefficient, n2 = +(4.2 ± 0.3) × 10−16 cm2/W. Based on the calculated band structure and the excitation photon energies employed, the physical origin of the refractive nonlinearity is discussed.