Formation of silver nanoparticles inside a soda-lime glass matrix in the presence of a high intensity Ar+ laser beam

Formation and motion of the silver nanoparticles inside an ion-exchanged soda-lime glass in the presence of a focused high intensity continuous wave Ar+ laser beam (intensity: 9.2 x 10(4) W/cm(2)) have been studied in here. One-dimensional diffusion equation has been used to model the diffusion of the silver ions into the glass matrix, and a two-dimensional reverse diffusion model has been introduced to explain the motion of the silver clusters and their migration toward the glass surface in the presence of the laser beam. The results of the mentioned models were in agreement with our measurements on thickness of the ion-exchange layer by means of optical microscopy and recorded morphology of the glass surface around the laser beam axis by using a Mirau interferometer. SEM micrographs were used to extract the size distribution of the migrated silver particles over the glass surface. (C) 2012 American Institute of Physics. [doi:10.1063/1.3684552]