Nonlocal nonlinear refractive index of gold nanoparticles synthesized by ascorbic acid reduction: comparison of fitting models

In this paper, the nonlinear refractive index of colloidal gold nanoparticles under continuous wave illumination is investigated with the z-scan technique. Gold nanoparticles were synthesized using ascorbic acid as reductant, phosphates as stabilizer and cetyltrimethylammonium chloride (CTAC) as surfactant agent. The nanoparticle size was controlled with the CTAC concentration. Experiments changing incident power and sample concentration were done. The experimental z-scan results were fitted with three models: thermal lens, aberrant thermal lens and the nonlocal model. It is shown that the nonlocal model reproduces with exceptionally good agreement; the obtained experimental behaviour.