Competition between second harmonic generation and two-photon-induced luminescence in single, double and multiple ZnO nanorods.

The nonlinear optical properties of single, double and multiple ZnO nanorods (NRs) were investigated by using a focused femtosecond (fs) laser beam. The excitation wavelength of the fs laser was intentionally chosen to be 754 nm at which the energy of two photons is slightly larger than that of the exciton ground state but smaller than the bandgap energy of ZnO. Second harmonic generation (SHG) or/and two-photon-induced luminescence (TPL) were observed and their dependences on excitation density were examined. For single ZnO NRs, only SHG was observed even at the highest excitation density we used in the experiments. The situation was changed when the joint point of two ZnO NRs perpendicular to each other was excited. In this case, TPL could be detected at low excitation densities and it increased rapidly with increasing excitation density. At the highest excitation density of ~15 MW/cm(2), the intensity of the TPL became comparable to that of the SHG. For an ensemble of ZnO NRs packed closely, a rapid increase of TPL with a slope of more than 7.0 and a gradual saturation of SHG with a slope of ~0.34 were found at high excitation densities. Consequently, the nonlinear response spectrum was eventually dominated by the TPL at high excitation densities and the SHG appeared to be very weak. We interpret this phenomenon by considering both the difference in electric field distribution and the effect of heat accumulation. It is suggested that the electric field enhancement in double and multiple NRs plays a crucial role in determining the nonlinear response of the NRs. In addition, the reduction in the bandgap energy induced by the heat accumulation effect also leads to the significant change in nonlinear response. This explanation is supported by the calculation of the electric field distribution using the discrete dipole approximation method and the simulation of temperature rise in different ZnO NRs based on the finite element method.