Synthesis of silver nanospheroids in silver-containing nanoporous glass under the effect of nanosecond laser pulses

Experimental evidence is presented that nanosecond laser irradiation of nanoporous silicate glass containing subnanometre Ag_n molecular silver clusters leads to the formation of spheroidal silver nanoparticles in the glass pores. Their shape has been confirmed by numerical simulation and electronic-microscopic images. The main processes induced by laser irradiation are local heating and the photoionisation and photofragmentation of the molecular silver clusters, followed by the aggregation of the fragments of the molecular clusters into nanoparticles.