Berberova-Buhova N.Sharlandjiev P.Mateev G.Nedelchev L.Blagoeva B.Stoykova E.Nazarova D.2024-07-162024-07-162024-07-162024-07-162022-01-011314-79781314-7471SCOPUS_ID:85125288680https://rlib.uctm.edu/handle/123456789/1367Azobenzene and azobenzene-containing polymers are intensively studied because of their high potential for many novel applications in polarization holography, design of optical polarization-sensitive elements, optical storage, all-optical switching, diffractive optical elements, etc. We study in the paper a thin hybrid layer composed of a polymer matrix and embedded gold nanoparticles. For a polymer matrix we used polymer poly[1-[4-(3-carboxy-4-hydroxyphenylazo) benzenesulfonamido]-1,2-ethan-ediyl, sodium salt], denoted shortly as PAZO. Film reflectance and transmittance strongly depend on the morphology of nanoparticles and the composite film filling factor. Herein, we present essential details concerning the estimation of the film complex refractive index. The embedded particles are considered as ensemble of non-aggregated spheres with no multiple scattering by individual particles. The complex refractive index of the composite film is evaluated from the volume scattering efficiency of the Au particles, the PAZO matrix complex refractive index and the filling factor. Embedded Au spheres with ensemble mean diameters of 20, 60 and 100 nm are considered as well as filling factors of 0.008, 0.010 and 0.030enArticle