Gold nanoparticles ion implanted in glass with enhanced nonlinear optical properties

Abstract

Silica glass with dispersed colloid Au particles was synthesized by ion implantation. Colloid Au particles were found to grow through an Ostwald ripening mechanism controlled by diffusion in the silica glass. The third-order nonlinear optical susceptibility χ(3) of this glass was found to be proportional to the fourth power of the radius of the colloid particles or the fourth power of the absorption coefficient at the peak of a plasmon band when the total volume of the colloid particles was constant. Furthermore, χ(3) of the glass was inversely proportional to the third power of the total volume of colloid particles when the absorption coefficient of the plasmon band was constant.