Abstract
Vanadium dioxide (VO2) is a material that undergoes a first-order metal–insulator transition and belonging to the centrosymmetric class of materials for which the generation of the second order nonlinearities is forbidden. Optical second harmonic generation (SHG) has been demonstrated for the first time from VO2 thin films using 800 nm femtosecond Ti:Sapphire laser. The VO2 films used for the experiments were grown by pulsed laser deposition technique on two different substrates, glass and alumina, with different parameters leading to the growth of VO2 films of different quality. The film grown on a glass substrate showed an enhanced SH signal but deviated from standard structural and thermo-electrical properties. X-ray diffraction, Raman spectroscopy and Atomic force microscopy analysis indicated, respectively, purity and finite crystallite size, red shifted VO2 vibrational modes and nanocrystalline nature of the film. The thermo-electrical measurements showed a low resistivity, activation energy of electrical conduction and transition temperature, reduced transition contrast, and broadened hysteresis width. Contrary, the one grew on an alumina substrate resulted in improved microstructural and thermo-electrical properties of the transition, and displayed a noticeably weaker SH signal. In addition to the well-known surface and interface effects on the generation of SH, these outcomes indicate the contribution of defects to SH conversion efficiency in VO2 thin films. The generation of SH in VO2 thin films presents new opportunities for material analysis and device fabrication.
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Acknowledgements
The authors acknowledge Dr Wilfrid Ndebeka for the technical assistance and would like to thank Professor Andrew Forbes from Witwatersrand university who directed us to the Laser Research Institute from Stellenbosch university where the present work was carried out. The authors thank Dr Jackie Nel from Pretoria university for AFM measurement.
Funding
This work was supported by "La Direction Générale de la Recherche Scientifique et du Développement Technologique (DGRSDT)", Algeria-South Africa bilateral research programme.
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SL wrote the main manuscript text. SL, YK and SM carried out the experiments. PHN supervised the second harmonic generation measurements. PHN and SA-M conducted critical revisions to obtain the final manuscript version. All authors contributed to revisions.
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Lafane, S., Neethling, P.H., Khereddine, Y. et al. Femtosecond laser induced optical second harmonic generation in pulsed laser deposited VO2 thin films. Opt Quant Electron 55, 783 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11082-023-05029-8
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11082-023-05029-8