Elsevier

Materials Chemistry and Physics

Volume 160, 15 June 2015, Pages 413-419
Materials Chemistry and Physics

Nonlinear optical absorption and optical limiting properties of cadmium ferrite

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.matchemphys.2015.05.009Get rights and content

Highlights

  • Spinel cadmium ferrites were synthesized by combustion method.

  • As-synthesized sample show prominent hysteresis and heat treated show narrow hysteresis.

  • The observed nonlinearity arises due to two photon absorption behavior.

  • CdFe2O4 possesses lower limiting threshold due to the surface spin effect.

Abstract

Cadmium ferrite (CdFe2O4) was synthesized by simple combustion method and characterized by structural (XRD, SEM, EDS, and FTIR), magnetic (VSM) and nonlinear optical (Z-Scan) studies. Powder X-ray diffraction confirms the formation of cubic phase of CdFe2O4 with the cell constant a = 8.692 Å and a = 8.698 Å for the samples annealed at 500 °C and 800 °C respectively. The average crystallite size was found to increase with an increase in annealing temperature. In the IR spectra of spinel ferrites, the two major absorption bands ν1 (553.47, 549.61 cm−1) and ν2 (410.75, 424.26 cm−1) corresponds to the vibration of tetrahedral and octahedral sites of CdFe2O4. VSM studies shows that material is antiferromagnetic in nature, when heated at higher temperature. Optical nonlinearity of the samples was studied by open aperture Z-scan technique using Q-switched Nd:YAG (532 nm, 5 ns, 10 Hz) laser. The material possesses reverse saturable absorption and can be ascribed due to two photon absorption process. Also the materials exhibit optical limiting behavior with onset limiting value of 4.45 × 1012 W/m2, 3.59 × 1012 W/m2 for the samples annealed at 500 °C and 800 °C respectively.

Introduction

The pulsed lasers are used for countless applications and are wide spread in the realms of industry, communications and warfare. With a substantial increase in the risk of handling intense laser pulses, optical limiting has become an important phenomenon of photonics. Optical limiters are devices that show an induced net decrease in transmittance at higher light fluences. These are very useful for protecting sensitive devices and eyes from laser induced damage. With nanosecond pulse excitation, optical limiting property could be achieved by accumulative nonlinear optical (NLO) phenomena like excited state absorption, two/three photon absorption, and free carrier absorption [1]. Over the years, ferrite materials such as normal, inverse and mixed spinel have been studied for their optical limiting performances. Especially nanosized spinel ferries have shown exceptional optical and magnetic properties demonstrating potential optical limiting applications [2], [3], [4]. In general spinel ferrites are represented with chemical formula AB2O4, where A and B represents divalent and trivalent cations which include Mg, Cd, Zn, Fe and Mn.

The optical properties of the magnetic spinel ferrites depend on the magnetic interaction and distribution of cation in the sub lattices. The nonlinear response of these magnetic materials can be tailored by the application of an external magnetic field which is of great interest to the technological world. Such a system requires an interaction between the magnetic susceptibility and nonlinear absorption of the material. Cadmium ferrites nanoparticles are one such normal spinel ferrite system which has non-magnetic (Cd2+) material coordinate with magnetic (Fe3+) material occupying the tetrahedral (A) and octahedral (B) sites [5]. Among the various methods available for synthesis of cubic ferrite, the combustion reaction [6], [7] and coprecipitation [8] stands out as an alternative and highly promising method. In particular, combustion method is simple, fast and inexpensive since it does not involve intermediate decomposition steps. Also it is easy to control the stoichiometry and crystallite size which have important influence on the magnetic and optical properties of the ferrite. The present work describes the preparation of CdFe2O4 by simple combustion method using glycine as fuel material. The obtained powders were annealed at two different temperature and characterized using X-ray diffraction (XRD), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), energy dispersive spectroscopy (EDS), vibrating sample magnetometer (VSM) and Z-scan technique (open aperture). By tuning the magnetic property of the material, the magnetic anisotropy of the ion at the interfaces can be reduced [9] which can result in strong nonlinear optical response. Hence the magnetic and nonlinear optical properties of the heat treated materials were analyzed in detail. To the best of our knowledge, optical limiting behavior of cadmium ferrite and the possible mechanism is reported for the first time in literature.

Section snippets

Material preparation

The thermochemical concepts used in propellant chemistry and explosives are the fundamentals of the combustion technique. This method exploits a rapid exothermic and self sustaining chemical reaction between the metal salts and a suitable organic fuel. As stated in the propellant chemistry, the elements H, C, Cd and Fe are considered as reducing elements, element oxygen is considered as an oxidizing element, and the valency of element nitrogen is considered to be zero [10]. In the present work,

Structural characterization

The recorded XRD pattern is as shown in Fig. 1 which indicates the formation of cadmium ferrite. All the main peaks were indexed and it coincides very well with literature data (JCPDS: 79-1155). The major peak located at 34° corresponds to the (311) plane which can be readily ascribed to the characteristic peaks of the cubic phase of CdFe2O4 (spinel ferrites). The estimated cell constant a = 8.692 Å and a = 8.698 Å for samples (a) and (b) agrees with the reference value a = 8.708 Å (JCPDS:

Conclusion

Cadmium ferrite nanoparticles were prepared by the simplest combustion method and annealed at 500 °C and 800 °C. XRD analysis confirms the formation of cubic normal spinel structure cadmium ferrite. The SEM images of the samples show the formation of porous and homogeneous structure. The presence of Fe, Cd and O elements in the samples were confirmed by the EDS spectrum. The IR analysis shows the effect of temperature has transferred the cation positions from magnetic (Fe3+) to non-magnetic (Cd

Acknowledgment

The author acknowledges Dr. Reji Philip, Light and Matter Physics Group, Raman Research Institute, C.V. Raman Avenue, Bangalore 560 080, India for providing the laser facility to carry out the Z-scan measurements.

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