Organization of silver nanoclusters in porous glass bulk by laser irradiation

Abstract

The structure modification in the bulk of plates of photochromic porous glass (PCPG) containing 0.28 wt % Ag₂O under the action of laser irradiation of a near IR-range with a power density of 0.6–1.9 MW/cm² and irradiation duration of 5–20 s is carried out. Locally modified structure regions are composed of the central and edge parts with a different content of silver nanoclusters and different density of the porous matrix. It is found that the size of the modified regions is much larger than the size of the focused laser beam, which can be associated with the thermophysical peculiarities of the material and the conditions of its laser-induced heating. The dynamics of the variation in the size of the modified region and its parts depending on the duration of the irradiation are studied.