Ion tracks in silica for engineering the embedded nanoparticles

Swift heavy ions have unique feature of creating ion tracks in insulators of dimension from a few nm to about 10 nm. This particular feature of the swift heavy ions is used to engineer the size and shape of the nanoparticles embedded in silica matrix. On the basis of several experiments, it is evidenced that the embedded nanoparticles either grow in size or reduce in size, if they are smaller than or comparable to the ion track size. The shape transformation from spherical to elongated along the beam direction occurs, when the nanoparticle size is larger than the ion track diameter in silica. The reduction, growth and elongation of Au nanoparticles embedded in silica matrix under swift heavy ion irradiation have been discussed in the frame work of thermal spike model.