UV-Laser irradiation effects on silver nanostructures

The induced changes on silver nanostructures are investigated using a special experimental procedure consisting in depositing and subsequently inducing the changes directly on transmission electron microscopy grids. The nanostructures have different morphologies, from isolated spherical-like particles to quasi-percolated films. The UV laser-induced modifications were investigated using transmission electron microscopy and atomic force microscopy obtaining three-dimensional information on the nanostructures. Upon irradiation with a single laser pulse a quasi-percolated film is transformed into an assembly of silver nanoparticles. Upon further irradiation the nanoparticles grow in size. Furthermore the arrangement of these silver nanoparticles assemblies can be controlled by irradiating the nanostructured silver film through a mask. In the present work, we have used a transmission electron microscopy square grid as a diffractive device and have observed that the corresponding near field diffraction pattern ...