Structured strengthening by two-wave optical ablation in silica with gold nanoparticles

• Morphological modification conducted by pulsed laser ablation was obtained.
• Mechanical properties of ion-implanted silica with Au nanoparticles were studied.
• Multi-wave metal/brittle interface interactions were analyzed.

Here we explored the morphological modification conducted by pulsed laser ablation in a high-purity ion-implanted silica substrate with embedded gold nanoparticles. The ablation process was performed by a two-wave mixing method at 532 nm with 26 ps pulse duration. The mechanical properties of the nanocomposites were characterized by nanoindentation and atomic force microscopy techniques. Analytical and experimental observations pointed out that an interference laser pattern can produce structured arrays at the sample surface. Besides, it is showed that the presence of periodic SiO2/Au fringes strongly enhances the mechanical nanocomposites performance. Additionally, a statistical analysis was carried out to establish possible relations between mechanical characteristics and morphological features. Experimental measurements allowed us to consider that multi-wave metal/brittle interface interactions can be good candidates for developing selective effects based on metallic nanoparticles.