ABSTRACT

Ultrashort laser pulse thermal-based killing of abnormal cells such as cancer cells targeted using absorbing nanoparticles is becoming an interesting subject in nanophotonics and medical treatments [1-3]. Thermal treatment using photo-absorption causes generation of heat from optical energy, which has many beneficial advantages compared to other treatment methodologies and cancer therapies such as surgery and radiotherapy. A wide range of nanomaterials with strong optical absorption in the near infrared (NIR) such as gold nanoparticles [4], nanoshells [5], or carbon nanotubes [6-8] can be used as photothermal. Laser energies of ultrashort pulses can be concentrated on a small biological mass filled with metallic nanoparticles. Therefore, an ultrashort laser pulse shoots the photons toward the target, where it can be absorbed by free electrons within the metal and transferred to the lattice subsystem, and finally to the surrounding medium. The knowledge of laser interactions with nanoparticles has required specific models for each case, dependent upon the laser pulse duration. The dual-temperature model for the ultrashort laser pulse mode is readily available [9-10].