Amorphous materials subjected to high-energy ion irradiation show irreversible anisotropic plastic flow at temperatures far below the glass transition temperature. They shrink in the direction of the ion beam and expand in the direction perpendicular to it [1]. On the other hand, for crystalline materials direct irradiation-induced deformation has never been observed. To overcome this limitation, a new strategy has been recently adopted to shape metallic nanoparticles (NPs) [2,3]. Deformation can be induced indirectly by embedding the NPs into an ion-deformable amorphous host matrix. Having recourse to this technique, spherical NPs can be deformed into prolate nanorods and nanowires, with an aspect ratio that can be tuned by varying the irradiation conditions (ion type, energy and fluence), figure 1(a).

We show that the ion-shaping mechanism is not only limited to the nanorods/nanowires transformations, but that, depending on the NP size and irradiation conditions, different classes of ion-shaped NPs can also be obtained. Here we present the transformation of the embedded NPs from spherical into facetted-like morphology, figure 1(b), [4], and the growth of wing-like nanowires along the ion beam, figure 1(c), [5]. Optical properties of individual NPs have been studied using advanced Transmission Electron Microscopy techniques, such as electron energy loss (EELS) and Catholuminescence. This work widens the potentialities of the ion-engineering technique to shape embedded nanostructures into nonconventional configurations, allowing, simultaneously, to tune the optical features of the corresponding composite glasses.

[1] S. Klaumünzer, et al, Phys. Rev. Lett. 51 (1983) 1987

[2] C. D'Orléans et al., Phys. Rev. B 67 (2003) 220101

[3] E.A. Dawi et al, J. Appl. Phys. 105 (2009) 074305

[4] G. Rizza et al, Appl. Phys. Lett. 95 (2009) 043105

[5] G. Rizza et al, (submitted)

 

Coulon Pierre-Eugene*, Laboratoire des Solides Irradiés, Ecole Polytechnique, 91128 Palaiseau, France
Rizza Giancarlo, Laboratoire des Solides Irradiés, Ecole Polytechnique, 91128 Palaiseau, France
Perruchas Sandrine, PMC, Ecole Polytechnique, 91128 Palaiseau, France
Gacoin Thierry, PMC, Ecole Polytechnique, 91128 Palaiseau, France
Dawi Elmuez A., Debye Institute for Nanomaterials, Nanophotonics Utrecht University, Netherlands
Monnet Isabelle, CIMAP, 14070 Caen, France

*presenting author