Photothermal characterisation of optical materials and optical thin films

Photothermal techniques have been employed to measure optical and thermal properties of samples. This paper briefly introduces photothermal techniques and their applications in optical thin film coating measurements and Ti:sapphire laser crystal characterisation. Photothermal techniques can provide the information that pure optical spectroscopy is not able to give, such as optical-to-thermal energy conversion efficiency. Photothermal techniques have been proved as useful tools for quality test and improvement in modern optical manufacturing.