The surface characterization of branched and spherical gold nanoparticles was done by two complementary techniques: scattering correlation spectroscopy (SCS) and surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS). Thiophenol was used as a surface marker to probe the surface area and the gold–thiophenol interaction in gold nanourchins (GNUs) and gold nanospheres (GNSs). We observed that, for GNU, the thiophenol is first grafted on the core, with a saturation concentration of about 10–3 M as observed for GNSs. Afterward, the saturation of the branches occurs at a higher thiophenol concentration (∼1 M). A numerical calculation of the surface areas of GNSs of different sizes allowed for the estimation of the GNU surface area. The hydrodynamic radius was measured at different steps of thiophenol–GNP functionalization. By comparing spherical and nonspherical nanoparticles, we demonstrate that the molecule–GNP interaction is highly dependent on the nanoparticle morphology (size and shape).

Polycrystalline zinc oxide (ZnO) thin films have been deposited at 450˚C onto glass and silicon substrates by pulsed laser deposition technique (PLD). The used source was a KrF excimer laser (248 nm, 25 ns, 5 Hz, 2 J/cm 2 ). The effects of glass and silicon substrates on structural and optical properties of ZnO films have been investigated. X-ray diffraction patterns showed that ZnO films are polycrystalline with a hexagonal wurtzite-type structure with a strong (103) orientation and have a good crystallinity on monocrystalline Si(100) substrate. The thickness and compositional depth profile were studied by Rutherford Backscattering spectrometry (RBS). The average transmittance of ZnO films deposited on glass substrate in the visible range is 70%.

The aim of this study is to compare the optical scattering properties of different gold nanoparticles (GNPs), with different shapes (spherical, GNSs, and flower-shaped, GNFs), sizes (20, 30, and 50 nm), and surface chemistries (with and without PEG). These scattering properties give geometrical characterization of hydrodynamic sizes of GNPs by using the scattering correlation spectroscopy. Afterward, a multiparametric comparative study of the scattering efficiency is presented depending on various parameters such as GNPs geometry, excitation wavelength (532 and 633 nm) and powers (from 5 to 100 μW). As predicted by Mie theory, we demonstrate that the increase in GNSs size leads to an increase of the scattered intensity, proportional to the excitation power. The scattered signal is the highest when the excitation wavelength is closer to the localized surface plasmon resonance. In the case of GNFs, the measured scattered signal is around 1000 times stronger than that for GNSs of the same size and concentration. For GNFs, a scattering coefficient at the plasmon resonance of around 2 × 10 −13 m 2 was calculated, which is comparable to the scattering coefficient of a GNS with a diameter of 300 nm. Due to their strong scattering properties, GNFs appear as a good alternative to GNSs of the same size for cell imaging.

One of the most important properties of a laser resonator is the highly collimated or spatially coherent nature of the laser output beam. The spatial beam quality of the output beam, namely beam diameter and propagation factor M² are critical parameters in a wide range of practical laser applications. This is because the spatial beam quality determines how tightly the beam can be focused or how well the beam propagates over long distances without significant spreading. It was investigated by many authors in previous years how to define and on how to measure the laser beam quality. An ISO working Draft Committee has also been organized to set-up a standard for definitions and test methods of the laser beam quality. In this work, the quality factor is studied with different methods.

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