The role of glass structure in the formation of implanted gold nanoclusters for enhanced nonlinear optical properties

Various silicate glasses were implanted with 8 x 1015 285 keV Au/cm2. Colloid growth was monitored as a function of annealing and N implantation (2 x 1017 35 keV N/cm2). Annealing to 1,040 C for fused silica and to 600 C for the other glasses resulted in Au aggregation and optical absorption. Radiation damage removal is associated with the fused silica annealing; the aggregation of Au at lower temperatures for the other glasses is expected because of the lower glass transition temperature. Phase-separation in the alkali-borosilicates may be important because of grain-boundary diffusion. N implantation did not significantly affect nanocluster growth