Measurement of vibrational deexcitation efficiencies of gold, chromium, zinc selenide, and amorphous carbon thin films

The portion of light absorbed and converted to heat (${\mathit{A}}_{\mathrm{PDS}}$) in thin films of Au, Cr, ZnSe, and a-C has been measured by photothermal deflection spectroscopy (PDS). By comparison with the total amount of light absorbed in the film (A), the vibrational deexcitation efficiency, namely, η=${\mathit{A}}_{\mathrm{PDS}}$/A, has been worked out. Each material showed a particular behavior of η as a function of the wavelength. Data analysis shows that when interband absorption occurs only a portion of the absorbed light is converted to heat. Improvements on experimental setup and measurement method, together with a discussion about the reference sample, are reported as well.