Mechanisms of Size Reduction of Colloidal Silver and Gold Nanoparticles Irradiated by Nd:YAG Laser

We consider two possible mechanisms for silver and gold particle size reduction by laser irradiation and demonstrate that electron ejection can practically be neglected for all possible parameters of a nanosecond Nd:YAG laser, used without beam focusing. We evaluate the applicability of this process for different experimental conditions and conclude that more intensive lasers must be used in order for electron ejection to play an important role. We also provide direct experimental evidence for the validity of the particle heating-melting-evaporation mechanism for experiments conducted with an Nd:YAG laser.