Rapid optical plasmonic transformation of silver-doped glass

A novel two-step method for rapid optical plasmonic transformation (ROPT) of Ag- doped phosphate glass is proposed. The ROPT process blends the time efficiency of a laser irradiation treatment with the precise temperature control over the entire glass volume. The time needed for optical transformation is reduced to 3 min, compared to 120 min during the conventional isothermal heat treatment (HT). The proposed method employs a differential scanning calorimeter (DSC) for nanoparticle (NP) synthesis. For consistent optical density comparison of the synthesized plasmonic glasses, a plasmonic merit factor, zeta, is introduced. The ROPT method exhibits a plasmonic factor growth rate three orders of magnitude higher, 0.14 zeta -s(-1), compared to the assessed rate of the conventional isothermal HT, 0.27 x-10(-3) zeta -s(-1). The fast growth is discussed in the framework of sub-nanometer particle coalescence at temperatures 80-100 degrees C above the glass transition temperature of the glass nanocomposite. The proposed solid-state NP synthesis may be applied for various noble metal NPs in different types of glass matrices.