Space-selective precipitation of metal nanoparticles inside glasses

We report the precipitation and control of metal nanoparticles inside transparent glasses. An Ag+-doped silicate glass sample was first irradiated by using an 800 nm femtosecond laser at room temperature and then annealed at 550 degreesC. The area near the focal point of the laser beam became gray after laser irradiation and yellow after further annealing at 550 degreesC for 10 min. Absorption and electron spin resonance spectra of the glass sample showed that a portion of silver ions near the focused part of the laser beam inside the glass were reduced to silver atoms after the laser irradiation. These silver atoms aggregated to form nanoparticles after further annealing at temperatures above 500 degreesC. A mechanism is suggested that consists of multiphoton reduction, which is induced by the fundamental light of the laser beam and supercontinuum white light, and diffusion of silver atoms driven by heat energy to form nanoparticles. The observed phenomenon may have promising applications for the fabrication of three-dimensional multicolored images inside a transparent material and for integrative micro-optical switches. (C) 2002 American Institute of Physics.