Photoacoustic observation of nonradiative decay of surface plasmons was made on the plasmons excited at a silver-air interface by the attenuated-total-reflection method. Analysis made in conjunction with simultaneously measured optical absorptance data allowed us to separate the radiative and nonradiative relaxations and determine their relative probabilities.

A photoacoustic technique was used to observe the nonradiative decay of surface plasmons in evaporated thin films of silver. The signal amplitudes from an attenuated total reflection photon-plasmon coupler were measured as a function of the angle of incidence and the chopping frequency of p-polarized 1.96-eV photons. A 1-D analysis was made on the photoacoustic data in conjunction with simultaneously measured absorptance data. Such an analysis allowed us to separate the nonradiative and the roughness-assisted radiative relaxations of the plasmons and determine their relative probabilities.

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