Heat-Assisted Femtosecond Breakdown of Plasmonic Nanoparticles

Metal nanostructures are central to a wide range of ultrafast plasmonic effects, such as high harmonic generation [1], photoelectron spectroscopy for sub-nm field probing [2], carrier-envelope phase detection [3], plasmon-plasmon coupling [4] etc., where high-intensity ultrafast lasers are used. In any of these cases, a detailed understanding of the laser-induced breakdown of the nanostructures is crucial. Therefore, we systematically investigate the femtosecond pulse-induced breakdown of plasmonic nanoparticles with a few-cycle, state-of-the-art laser source.