Homogenous silver-doped nanocomposite glass

Silver nanoparticles are generated in glass by a dry process. First silver ions are driven into the glass by electric field-assisted ion exchange. Subsequent annealing in air led to the formation of silver nanoparticles beneath the surface of the glass. A thin slice of the cross section of the sample was prepared. This visualization of the depth profile facilitated optical analysis of the embedded layer containing silver nanoparticles to be preformed. We observed that there were narrower plasmon bands close to the sample surface and wider plasmon bands in lower layers. It is attributed to the formation of larger nanoparticles with lower number density close to the surface and slightly smaller nanoparticles with higher number density in the depth of the sample. (C) 2011 Optical Society of America