Estimation of the cooling times for a metallic tip under laser illumination

The temperature evolution at the apex of a sharply pointed needle submitted to ultrafast pulsed-laser irradiation was determined using a pump-probe method. The laser pulse acts as a pump pulse whereas the probe pulse is a fast high-voltage pulse. Then cooling times are consistent with a heating zone of a few microns with a laser beam polarized along the tip axis and a spot size of 0.8 mm.