Ultra-Short Pulsed Laser Engineered Metal-Glass Nanocomposites

Glasses containing embedded metallic nanoparticles (metal-glass nanocomposites) exhibit peculiar linear and non-linear optical properties, mainly due to the surface plasmon resonances (SPRs) of the metallic inclusions. The nanoparticles’ shapes predominantly and characteristically determine the spectral positions and polarization dependence of the SPRs in the visible and near infrared. The focus of this brief is on the interaction of intense ultra-short (femtosecond) laser pulses with silver nanoparticles embedded in soda-lime glass, and the resulting nanostructural modifications. In particular, and in order to provide a comprehensive physical picture of the processes leading to the laser-induced persistent shape transformation of the nanoparticles, series of experimental results investigating the dependences of the nanoparticles’ laser-assisted shape modifications on laser pulse intensity, excitation wavelength and temperature are considered. The resulting local optical dichroism allows fabrication of flexibly polarizing optical (sub-) microstructures with well-specified optical properties. The recently achieved considerable progress towards fabrication of an all-optical data storage and readout technique based on metal-glass nanocomposites is also discussed.