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An effective method for the production of surface enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) active substrates is presented. Nanostructured silver thin films are pulsed laser deposited in an argon atmosphere. The films consist of arrays of nanoparticles whose size is controlled by the Ar pressure. The surface morphology of the films can be tuned by the laser pulse number. Nanoparticle size is calculated by a phenomenological model taking into account the dynamics of the laser generated silver plasma. The SERS activity of the films is investigated by Raman scattering of adsorbed rhodamine 6G at different concentrations.

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Graphite targets have been irradiated at 90 K and 300 K with 850 MeV and 6 GeV lead ions and with 20–30 MeV fullerene cluster ions in a large range of fluences. Damage creation was studied both by transmission electron microscopy and Raman spectroscopy. The very strong energy density deposited in electronic processes generates a highly excited region around the projectile path. The relaxation of the deposited energy via hydrodynamic expansion and shock-wave propagation leads to the formation of small defective graphitic domains and of nanocrystalline diamond particles