《Photoreduction of Ag+ in aluminoborate glasses induced by irradiation of a femtosecond laser》.pdf

Photoreduction of Ag+ in aluminoborate glasses induced by irradiation of a femtosecond laser Bin Huaa) Department of Material Chemistry, Graduate School of Engineering, Kyoto University, Nishikyo-ku, Kyoto 615-8510, Japan Jianrong Qiu Photon Craft Project, Shanghai Institute of Optics and Fine Mechanics, Chinese Academy of Sciences and Japan Science and Technology Agency, Kyoto 619-0237, Japan Yasuhiko Shimotsuma, Koji Fujita, and Kazuyuki Hirao Department of Material Chemistry, Graduate School of Engineering, Kyoto University, Nishikyo-ku, Kyoto 615-8510, Japan (Received 21 September 2004; accepted 24 November 2004) We report on photoreduction of Ag+ in aluminoborate glasses induced by irradiation of a femtosecond laser. Novel fluorescence was observed in the femtosecond laser irradiated glass when excited by a 365 nm ultraviolet lamp. Optical absorption, emission, and electron spin resonance spectra of the glass samples demonstrated that after the laser irradiation, portions of silver ions near the focused part of the laser beam inside the glass were reduced to silver atoms, which resulted in the formation of the characteristic fluorescence. The observed phenomenon may have promising applications in the fabrication of functional optical devices. I. INTRODUCTION Herein, we report on a characteristic fluorescence ex- The properties of noble metal doped glasses have been cited by a conventional 365 nm ultraviolet (UV) lamp in extensively studied because of their unique optical be- Ag+-doped soda-alumino-borate glass after exposure to haviors such as large third-order nonlinear susceptibility a focused femtosecond pulsed