Reflectance of thin silver film on the glass substrate at the interaction with femtosecond laser pulses

Abstract

The optical response of thin silver film (of 60 nm thickness) coated on a glass prism (Kretschmann configuration) and heated by the femtosecond laser pulse of small intensity is investigated by the computational modeling. We have calculated the reflectance of p-polarized probe laser beam when it is incident onto the metal film from the glass side. Reflectance is calculated at incidence angles close to the surface plasmon resonance angle. We have considered first 100 ps after the action of femtosecond laser pulse onto the film surface. Changes in thermodynamic state and hydrodynamic motion of film material are described by the system of hydrodynamic equations taking into account different temperatures of electrons and ions (two- temperature state) and consequently two-temperature thermodynamics and kinetics at such early times. These changes define the changes in electron-ion and electron-electron collision frequencies. The collision frequencies of conduction electrons, being calculated in dependence on the density and electron and ion temperatures, allow us to find the Drude part of dielectric permittivity. Together with the interband contribution it gives possibility to calculate reflectance depending on the state of metal surface. It is shown a great importance of electron-electron interactions in the temporal behavior of reflectance at early times of laser-film interaction.