Excited state dynamics in silver nanoparticles embedded in phosphate glass

Excited state dynamics in silver nanoparticles embedded in aluminophosphate glass was studied by ultrafast optical pump-probe technique. The absorption process of pump radiation and the electron-phonon relaxation on the 10^-13-10^-11 s scale were analyzed in the framework of two-temperature model. The time evolution of the light-induced transient diffraction grating shows an uncommon relaxation on the nanosecond time scale. This relaxation is assigned to phonon-phonon scattering process as well as to the energy transfer from photoexcited electronic states in glass matrix to silver nanoparticles.