A series of thin Ag films with different thicknesses grown under identical conditions are analyzed by means of spectrophotometer. From these measurements the values of refractive index and extinction coefficient are calculated. The films are deposited onto BK7 glass substrates by direct current (DC) magnetron sputtering. It is found that the optical properties of the Ag films can be affected by films thickness. Below critical thickness of 17 nm, which is the thickness at which Ag films form continuous films, the optical properties and constants vary significantly with thickness increasing and then tend to a stable value up to about 40 nm. At the same time, X-ray diffraction measurement is carried out to examine the microstructure evolution of Ag films as a function of films thickness. The relation between optical properties and microstructure is discussed.

Ablation process of 1-kHz femtosecond lasers (pulse duration of 148 fs, wavelength of 775 nm) of Au film on silica substrates is studied. The thresholds for single and multi pulses can be obtained directly from the relation between the squared diameter D2 of the ablated craters and the laser fluence 'phi'0. From the plot of the accumulated laser fluence N'phi'_(th)(N) and the number of laser pulses N, incubation coefficient of Au film is obtained to be 0.765. Some experimental data obtained around the single pulse threshold are in good agreement with the theoretical calculation.

A model of a structure consisting of nonperiodic closely spaced metal nanoparticles array, in which electromagnetic energy can be transported and splitted below the diffraction limit, is founded. Based on finite difference time domain (FDTD) algorithm, we analyze the power transmission properties of nonperiodic silver nanoparticles arrays in a dielectric waveguide. The numerical results indicate the structure can split light along the array at the nanometer level with no radiative losses at the discontinuity.