Comparative photothermal study of reactive low-voltage ion-plated andelectron-beam-evaporated TiO(2) thin films

The thickness-dependent optical and thermal properties and the corresponding damage thresholds have been investigated by means of various photothermal techniques on titanium dioxide thin films prepared by the conventional techniques of reactive electron-beam evaporation and reactive low-voltage ion plating (RLVIP). Compared with the reactive-electron-beam-evaporated samples, the RLVIP films exhibit a higher absorption, lower damage threshold, better thermal conductivity, lower defect density, and an almost perfect stability under Ar(+)-laser irradiation. These results are correlated with data from a multimethod approach, and a mechanism is proposed to explain the low damage threshold for the RLVIP TiO(2) films.