Thermal response of nanocomposite materials under pulsed laser excitation

The optical properties of nanocomposite materials made of matrix-embedded noble metal nanoparticles strongly depend on thermal effects from different origins. We propose a classical model describing the energy exchanges within the nanoparticles and between the latter and the surrounding dielectric host subsequent to a light pulse absorption. This model, which accounts for the thermal interactions between neighboring particles, allows us to calculate numerically the temperature dynamics of the electrons, metal lattice and matrix as functions of particle size, and metal concentration of the medium, whatever be the pulsed excitation temporal regime. It is illustrated in the case of Au:SiO2 materials under femtosecond and nanosecond pulse excitation. It is shown that, in the femtosecond regime, the heat transfer to the matrix cannot be neglected beyond a few picosecond delay from which particle size and metal concentration play a significant role in the electron relaxation. In the nanosecond regime, these morphologic parameters influence crucially the material thermal behavior with the possibility of generating a thermal lens effect. The implications in the analysis of experimental results regarding both the electron relaxation dynamics and the nonlinear optical properties are also discussed. Finally, a method to adapt the model to the case of thin nanocomposite film is proposed. (C) 2004 American Institute of Physics.