Abstract

Recently there has been a considerable amount of work centered on the problem of understanding lattice thermalization of optically excited carriers on the picosecond time scale. A necessary consequence of thermalization of carriers with the lattice is the subsequent lattice expansion. This expansion leads to a propagating elastic stress wave which results in motion of the free surface. In the experiments reported here the technique of photothermal deflection¹ has been extended for the first time to the picosecond time domain in order to resolve this surface motion.

© 1988 Optical Society of America