Formation of metallic silver on silver‐halide surfaces: Flash‐photolysis experiments on silver‐halide photochromic glasses

Optical and TEM measurements are reported on a series of well‐characterized photochromic glasses containing silver‐halide microparticles. The growth rate for formation of photolytic silver is found to vary inversely as some fractional power of the silver‐halide particle diameter. Comparison with simple models suggests that in these experiments silver cluster growth is being limited by the motion of surface ions. This type of experiment may provide a model system for studying the mechanism of photographic latent‐image formation.