Role of target conditioning on the thermo-optical response of bismuth nanostructures produced by pulsed laser deposition

This work shows the influence of conditioning the Bi target previous to the pulsed laser deposition of Bi nanocomposite films on their optical and thermo-optical properties. The nanostructured films prepared by alternate pulsed laser deposition at room temperature in vacuum consist of Bi nanostructures (NSs) with different characteristic sizes that are organized in layers and embedded in an amorphous Al2O3 host. Preablation of the Bi target prior to deposition leads to higher Bi concentration and Bi NSs with larger average sizes. As a result a lower optical transmission and an enhanced thermo-optical contrast are observed.