Analysis of bulk sample photothermal response by time resolved ellipsometry

Ellipsometry is an optical technique where the polarisation of light beam reflected by a sample is analysed in order to determine its optical properties. Combining ellipsometry measurements with a pulsed excitation, we have been able to monitor in time the variation of the complex refractive index n - ik of a strongly absorbing bulk sample and to reach the absolute surface temperature history subsequent to the excitation in sub-microsecond time-scale