Nonlinear optical properties of silicon nanoclusters

The nonlinear and linear optical responses of Si nanoclusters at lambda = 355 nm were measured. The nanoclusters were laser ablated on quartz substrates. chi((3)) values as high as 2.28x10(-5) esu (as measured by the Z-scan technique) and lifetime as long as 143 ns were measured for clusters of an average size of 11 nm. The optical properties were strongly correlated with the dusters' sizes. (C) 1997 American Institute of Physics.