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Metallic copper Cu and bimetallic copper–silver CuAg nanoparticles (NPs) are generated by the ablation of copper bulk target in water and aqueous Ag colloidal solution, respectively. The experiments were performed using nanosecond Nd:YAG laser operating at 1064 nm. The generated NPs are characterized by UV–vis absorption spectroscopy, laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy, dynamic light scattering and scanning electron microscopy. The conducted investigations can be summarized as follows: (i) CuAg NPs colloidal solution possess the absorption in UV–vis spectral region, which can be attributed to the Cu-component; (ii) the primary bimetallic CuAg NPs have near uniform dimensions with diameter of about 15 nm, and as a rule, they are grouped into larger agglomerates without defined morphology; (iii) the obtained Cu NPs have mainly spherical form with average diameters up to 20 nm. Both types of NPs show a tendency towards the formation of large agglomerates with different morphology. Bimetallic NPs show the plasmon resonance in the vicinity of 640 nm with a good coincidence with formation of the colloidal solution of pure Cu NPs. The results also demonstrate that the core–shell structure (Ag-rich core/Cu-rich shell) is important for the formation of the bimetallic NPs, also agreeing very well with theory. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A study of morphological and composition changes of the WTi/Si system induced by nanosecond and picosecond laser pulses is presented. A 190 nm thick WTi film was deposited on a silicon substrate of n-type (100). The pulsed laser systems used were: nanosecond TEA CO2 laser (emission, 10.6 um; pulse FWHM; pulse duration 120 ns) and picosecond Nd:YAG laser (emission, 532 nm; pulse FWHM; pulse duration 40 ps). During experiments the used fluences (Ph) had similar values, Ph1 = 20 J cm [?] 2 in case of the TEA CO2 laser and Ph2 = 16 J cm [?] 2 for the Nd:YAG laser. The laser-induced morphological and composition modifications showed a dependence on pulse duration. Generally, the following morphological changes were observed: (i) ablation/exfoliation of the WTi thin film, (ii) appearance of hydrodynamic features such as resolidified material, and (iii) formation of nano-sized grains and globules. Overall morphological modifications were more pronounced after the picosecond laser action. The surface composition analysis showed a quite different distribution of sample components depending on the pulse duration. Formation of the silicon dioxide (SiO2) was recorded only in the case of irradiation of the WTi/Si system by picosecond laser pulses. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]