SYNTHESIS OF NANOMETER GLASS PARTICLES BY PULSED-LASER ABLATION OF MICROSPHERES

We describe a new method for producing ultrafine glass particles that employs pulsed-laser particle ablation. Pulsed-laser radiation with wavelength of 249 nm was used to ablate 8-mum-diam glass microspheres under normal atmospheric conditions. The ejected particles were collected on silicon substrates for further analysis. Scanning electron micrographs of the samples were analyzed by computer aided image processing to determine the effect of laser fluence on the particle size distribution. Results showed that mean particle diameter, in the range from 60 to 80 nm, was generally inversely proportional to laser fluence. The particle size distributions were closely log-normal with small geometric standard deviations.