Laser-induced heating of nanocrystals embedded in glass matrices

Abstract

Laser-induced heating of nanocrystals embedded in silicate glass matrices has been studied by photoluminescence and Raman scattering. No nonequilibrium optical phonons were found both for cw and 150-ps-long laser pulses in contrast to bulk samples. The measured laser-induced temperature rise in one sample where the nanocrystal radii are ∼5 nm was found to be in quantitative agreement with a nonlinear theory proposed by Lax for bulk semiconductors. However, in another sample where the nanocrystal radii are only 3 nm, the observed temperature rise at high laser powers was significantly higher than the theoretical prediction.