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High-intensity femtosecond laser pulses are used to induce non- equilibrium electron heating in gold metal. The thermal relaxation of the electronic distribution is studied through pump and continuum probe measurements of transient reflectivity. Measurements are performed for different heating-pulse fluences and probe-photon energies. The observed reflectivity line shape demonstrates the generation of nonequilibrium electron temperatures which cool to the lattice on a 2--3 ps time scale.
Schoenlein et al. (Mon,) studied this question.