Pulsed laser co-deposition in air: a way of fabricating composite nanostructures

This work presents results of applying a method based on pulses laser co-deposition of a noble metal and a magnetic iron oxide for fabrication of ordered composite nanostructures. The experimental scheme includes two nanosecond laser beams with a wavelength of 1064 nm that ablate simultaneously two targets - Au and Fe2O3. The process is implemented in air - a condition that leads to a fast condensation of the ablated material into nanoparticles. By choosing different positioning of the ablation plumes and the substrate, composites of iron oxide nanoparticles decorated by noble metal ones can be fabricated. An external magnetic field applied close to the substrate orients and aligns the nanoparticles into chains. The effects of the processing parameters that define the geometry of the experiment are studied and presented. The method can be optimized for fabrication of complex composite nanostructures with applications in sensorics, optics and magneto-optics.