Laser-controlled dissolution of gold nanoparticles in glass

This Letter, reports the focused-femtosecond-laser induced dissolution of gold nanoparticles in an Au+-doped glass. Gold nanoparticles, pre-precipitated in the glass either by thermal treatment or by irradiation of a focused femtosecond laser and successive thermal treatment, are broken to dissolve when they are reirradiated by a focused femtosecond laser. It is suggested that the dissolution of gold nanoparticles is due to dramatically increasing in the temperature of gold nanoparticles, resulting from the energy absorbing from the femtosecond laser. A repeatable process of precipitation and dissolution of gold nanoparticles is also realized anywhere selected inside the glass, so does the control of the size of gold nanoparticles. (C) 2004 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.