Nonlinear and saturable absorption properties of PbS nanocrystalline thin films

The structural,morphological,optical,and nonlinear optical properties of a lead sulfde(PbS) thin film grown by chemical bath deposition(CBD) are investigated by X-ray difraction(XRD),scanning electron microscope(SEM),ultraviolet-visible(UV-Vis),and open aperture Z-scan experiments.The band gap energy of the PbS nanocrystalline film is 1.82 eV,higher than that of bulk PbS at 300 K.The nonlinear absorption properties of the film are investigated using the open aperture Z-scan technique at 1064 nm and pulse durations of 4 ns and 65 ps.Intensity-dependent switching of the film from nonlinear absorption to saturable absorption is observed.The nonlinear absorption coefficient increases monotonically with increasing pulse duration from 65 ps to 4 ns.

Optimization of Gas Sensing Performance of Nanocrystalline SnO_2 Thin Films Synthesized by Magnetron Sputtering

Tin oxide （SnO2） is one of the most promising transparent conducting oxide materials, which is widely used in thin film gas sensors. We investigate the dependence of the deposition time on structural, morphologicaJ and hydrogen gas sensing properties of SnO2 thin films synthesized by dc magnetron sputtering. The deposited samples are characterized by XRD, SEM, AFM, surface area measurements and surface profiler. Also the H2 gas sensing properties of SnO2 deposited samples are performed against a wide range of operating temperature. The XRD analysis demonstrates that the degree of crystallinity of the deposited SnO2 films strongly depends on the deposition time. SEM and AFM analyses reveal that the size of nanoparticles or agglomerates, and both average and rms surface roughness is enhanced with the increasing deposition time. Also gas sensors based on these SnO2 nanolayers show an acceptable response to hydrogen at various operating temperatures.

Influence of microstructure on the corrosion resistance of Fe–44Ni thin films

An Fe–44Ni nanocrystalline（NC） alloy thin film was prepared through electrodeposition. The relation between the microstructure and corrosion behavior of the NC film was investigated using electrochemical methods and chemical analysis approaches. The results show that the NC film is composed of a face-centered cubic phase（γ-（Fe,Ni）） and a body-centered cubic phase（α-（Fe,Ni）） when it is annealed at temperatures less than 400℃. The corrosion resistance increases with the increase in grain size, and the corresponding corrosion process is controlled by oxygen reduction. The NC films annealed at 500℃ and 600℃ do not exhibit the same pattern, although their grain sizes are considerably large. This result is attributed to the existence of an anodic phase, Fe0.947Ni0.054, in these films. Under this condition, the related corrosion process is synthetically controlled by anodic dissolution and depolarization.