Assessment of nanocomposite photonic systems with the X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy.

The chemical compositions of Ag-Er co-doped phosphate and silicate glasses were investigated with X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy with the purpose to identify the chemical state of silver. The analysis of the Ag 3d core lines show the presence of nanometer-sized silver particles in each of the annealed samples, even if these Ag 3d lines appear to be very different from each other. We explain these results as a different interaction of silver with the two glasses matrix, which leads to a different nucleation rate of the Ag clusters.