Thermal Diffraction of Binary Fluids With Metal Nanoparticles

Abstract

A laser propagating through a metal nanocolloid exhibits a farfield fringe pattern that is the signature of its optical and thermally induced response. Here, we directly exploit the sensitive farfield features to measure the thermooptic coefficients of binarysolvent mixtures of ethanol and water. This study extends our fundamental understanding of the thermal selfdiffraction toward future optical characterization of the nanocolloid fluid motion.