Ultrafast Dynamics of Gold Nanorods: Tuning Between Photo-Bleaching and Photo-Induced Absorption

Abstract

We report ultrafast electron dynamics in gold nanorods investigated using 80 fs laser pulses centered at 1.57 eV. Five types of nanorod colloidal suspensions in water having their longitudinal surface plasmon peak (ELSP) on either side of the laser photon energy (EL) have been studied. For ELSP > EL, photo-induced absorption with single decay time constant is observed. On the other hand, for ELSP < EL, photo-bleaching is observed having bi-exponential decay dynamics; the faster one between 1–3 ps and slower one between 7 ps to 22 ps both of them increasing almost linearly with the difference |EL – ELSP|. These time constants increase linearly with the pump intensity. Simulations have been carried out to understand the interplay between photo-bleaching and photo-induced absorption.