Nonlinear Optical Properties of Nitrogen-doped Bilayer Graphene

The electronic properties of graphene can be controlled by substitutional doping to obtain p-type or n-type characteristics. To this end, bilayer graphene films are synthesized using CVD method and substitutionally doped with Nitrogen (N). Previously, XPS measurements done in tandem with Raman spectroscopy revealed that the rich chemistry between carbon and nitrogen can result in pyridinic, pyrrolic, or graphitic configurations. The nonlinear optical properties (NLO) of both pristine and N-doped graphene samples are studied in both nanosecond and femtosecond excitation regimes using open aperture Z-scan method. Similar to the previous observations with Raman spectroscopy, we see that the NLO properties are more sensitive to the local bonding environments which determine the defect density in the graphene lattice, rather than just the dopant percentage. Our results give more insights into the effect of defects on the NLO properties of doped graphene which help in tailor making graphene samples for applications like modelocking and optical switching.