Laser ablation of silver in different liquids: Optical and nonlinear optical properties of silver nanoparticles

The optical, structural, and nonlinear optical properties of silver nanoparticles prepared using the method of laser ablation in various liquids at wavelengths of 397, 532, and 795 nm with laser pulses of different duration are studied. An analysis of the dimensional and spectral characteristics of the silver nanoparticles revealed a time dynamics of the nanoparticle size distribution in solutions. It is shown that thermal self-defocusing is observed for the case of nanosecond or shorter pulses generated with a high repetition rate. For picosecond and femtosecond pulses with a low repetition rate, the effects of self-focusing (gamma = 3 x 10(-13) cm(2) W-1) and saturated absorption (beta = -1.5 x 10(-9) cm W-1) were observed in the solutions under study. The third-order nonlinear susceptibility of the silver nanoparticles was found to be 5 x 10(-8) esu at a wavelength of 397 nm. (c) 2005 Pleiades Publishing, Inc.