Melting-induced enhancement of the second-harmonic generation from metal nanoparticles.
We report on the generation of second-harmonic signals by irradiating monolayers of high purity Ga nanoparticles, embedded in a SiOx matrix, with femtosecond laser pulses at 800 nm. A remarkable melting-induced enhancement of the second-harmonic generation is observed in correspondence of the phase transition. In addition, the hysteresis cycle of nonlinear transmittance is shown to be amplified a factor of 80-100 with respect to the linear response and interpreted in the framework of a nonlinear effective-medium model.
INFM and Dipartimento di Elettronica, Università di Pavia, Via Ferrata 1, I-27100 Pavia, Italy.
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Malvezzi
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Allione
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Patrini
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Stella
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P
Cheyssac
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R
Kofman