Influence of femtosecond laser irradiation and heat treatment on precipitation of silver nanoparticles in glass

Silver nanoparticles were precipitated inside an Ag2O-doped glass by femtosecond laser irradiation and successive heat treatment. The influence of heat treatment temperature on the precipitation of silver nanoparticles was investigated. Absorption spectra show that the femtosecond laser irradiation results in an apparent decrease of the treatment temperature for the precipitation of Ag nanoparticles. We demonstrate the control of precipitation, dissolution and growth of silver nanoparticles inside glass by changing the heat treatment temperature or using further femtosecond laser irradiation