Ultrafast relaxation of electrons probed by surface plasmons at a thin silver film

Abstract

We present a novel subpicosecond optical transient-reflection method, which employs the surface-plasmon resonance of a thin silver film as a very sensitive probe to study small transients of the effective electron and lattice temperature. By measuring under surface-plasmon resonant and nonresonant conditions, we can discriminate between lattice and electron heating. We find a change of the lattice and electron temperature of respectively, \ensuremath{\Delta}${T}_{l}$=0.10(5) K and \ensuremath{\Delta}${T}_{e}$=30--90 K for an intensity of 180 W ${\mathrm{cm}}^{\mathrm{\ensuremath{-}}2}$ and an electron-phonon energy relaxation time of 670(70) fs.