3D Patterning at the Nanoscale of Fluorescent Emitters in Glass

Three-dimensional fluorescent nanostructures are photoinduced by a near-infrared high repetition rate femtosecond laser in a silver-containing femto-photoluminescent glass. By adjusting the laser dose (fluence, number of pulses, and repetition rate), these stabilized intense fluorescent structures, composed of silver clusters, can be achieved with a perfect control of the luminescence intensity, the emission spectrum, and the spatial distribution at the nanometer scale. This novel approach opens the way to the fabrication of stable fluorescent nanostructures in three dimensions in glass for applications in photonics and optical data storage.