Influence of the nanoparticle sizes on the photo-induced absorption of La–Ga–S–O–Dy glass nanocomposites

•La–Ga–S–O–Gd glass nanocomposites are promising material for laser induced absorption.•High sensitivity if th e grating to the NP sizes is found.•The dependence shows a maximum for the sizes equal to about 35 nm.•This fact may confirm the principal role of the interfaces between the borders and the polymers.

We have established that the illumination by two coherent beams originating from nanosecond Nd:YAG laser at wavelengths 1064 nm and 532 nm in the La–Ga–S–O–Gd:PVA La-Ga-S-O-Dy polymer glass nanocomposites leads to substantial changes in the absorption. The effect is completely reversible and disappears after interruption of the optical treatment. The illumination power density was varied up to 0.6 GW/cm2. All the samples show destruction less than 0.2% changes after more than 300,000 laser pulses. The beams were incident with the angles varying between 45° and 50° with respect to the nanocomposite surface. Moreover, the additional analysis of TEM did not demonstrate any additional aggregations. The role of light polarizations, beam stability, and light scattering is discussed.

Graphical abstractPhotoinduced absorption profileFigure optionsDownload full-size imageDownload as PowerPoint slide