Evolution of poling-assisted bleaching of metal-doped nanocomposite glass with poling conditions

Poling-assisted bleaching was studied with respect to poling time, voltage, and temperature in glass samples having a gradient of silver nanoparticles across the depth. The optical extinction band due to the particles’ surface plasmon resonance around 415 nm was measured and the Maxwell– Garnett effective medium theory was used to fit extinction spectra. Fitting allowed us to determine the evolution of the thickness of the near-surface layer where the particles’ volume filling factor has dropped to zero as a result of the bleaching process. At 280 °C, bleaching started with a voltage as low as 200 V and saturated with time after about 1 h. Tight glass-electrode contact, voltage of at least 1 kV, and temperature higher than 200 °C were required in order to obtain significant and uniform bleaching in the poled area. The results were discussed in terms of the underlying electric-field-assisted dissolution of embedded metal nanoparticles. © 2005 American Institute of Physics. DOI: 10.1063/1.1977205