Role of target conditioning on the thermo-optical response of bismuth nanostructures produced by pulsed laser deposition

• Published in: Applied physics. A, Materials science & processing Vol. 110; no. 4; pp. 863 - 867
• Main Authors: Serna, R., Jiménez de Castro, M., Toudert, J., Haro-Poniatowski, E., García López, J.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Berlin/Heidelberg Springer-Verlag 01.03.2013
• Subjects: Aluminum oxide; Bismuth; Characterization and Evaluation of Materials; Condensed Matter Physics; Conditioning; Deposition; Machines; Manufacturing; Materials science; Nanostructure; Nanotechnology; Optical and Electronic Materials; Optical properties; Physics; Physics and Astronomy; Processes; Pulsed laser deposition; Surfaces and Interfaces; Thin Films; Pulse Laser Deposition; Fuse Silica Substrate; Nanocomposite Film; Rutherford Backscatter Spectrometry; Feret Diameter
• ISSN: 0947-8396; 1432-0630
• DOI: 10.1007/s00339-012-7166-1

This work shows the influence of conditioning the Bi target previous to the pulsed laser deposition of Bi nanocomposite films on their optical and thermo-optical properties. The nanostructured films prepared by alternate pulsed laser deposition at room temperature in vacuum consist of Bi nanostructures (NSs) with different characteristic sizes that are organized in layers and embedded in an amorphous Al 2 O 3 host. Preablation of the Bi target prior to deposition leads to higher Bi concentration and Bi NSs with larger average sizes. As a result a lower optical transmission and an enhanced thermo-optical contrast are observed.