Optical behavior of RF sputtered Au-TiO2 thin cermet films, influence of the gold particles size and concentration

We study the optical behavior of Au-TiO2 thin cermet films, the gold volume fraction of which is varied over the range 10(-3) to 8 x 10(-2) In this lo w concentration range, it is mainly governed by the metallic particles size , which very much depends on the deposition substrate temperature and the a nnealing time and temperature. The samples structure and morphology are cha racterized by several complementary techniques. Spectrophotometric measurem ents at quasi-normal incidence have been performed in visible and near infr ared regions. Using a short pulse Nd:YAG laser, we also look for nonlinear optical behavior due to the enhancement of the electromagnetic field close to the surface plasmon resonance of the metallic grains.