Gamma-radiation synthesis, characterization and nonlinear optical properties of highly stable colloidal silver nanoparticles in suspensions

Abstract Colloidal silver nanoparticles were synthesized by gamma-radiation method and stabilized by poly(4-vinylpyridine) to form highly stable suspensions in ethylene glycol. X-ray diffraction, transmission electron microscopy, and optical techniques were used to characterize the colloidal nanoparticles and study their formation process. Optical nonlinearity, induced by 8 ns laser pulses from a frequency-doubled Nd:YAG laser at 532 nm , was investigated by using Z-scan technique, indicating that the as-synthesized colloidal silver nanoparticles had obvious negative refractive nonlinearity.