Structural investigation and laser plasma diagnostics of borate glasses containing silver nanoparticles

Non-equilibrium plasmas have been produced in vacuum by irradiating thin targets of Ag2O doped borate glasses by pulsed laser. Morphological and optical measurements have shown that in these glasses at high Ag content the metallic cations exist as nanoparticle and can induce effects of resonant absorption in laser-generated plasmas. Furthermore, preliminary time-of-flight measurements have been carried out by means of an infrared laser having a maximum intensity of the order of 10(10) W/cm(2) evidencing that the ions energy and yield increase with the silver concentrations and depend on the glass structure. This study has shown that concentrations of Ag2O up to 25% enhance the kinetic energies and the yields of the accelerated ions, whereas a higher content of silver oxide gives rise to high laser absorption thus modifying the properties of the plasma. The obtained characterization indicates that the targets may be irradiated by higher repetitive laser intensities in order to enhance the ion acceleration and current.