Thermal Diffraction of Binary Fluids With Metal Nanoparticles

A laser propagating through a metal nanocolloid exhibits a far-field fringe pattern that is the signature of its optical and thermally induced response. Here, we directly exploit the sensitive far-field features to measure the thermo-optic coefficients of binary-solvent mixtures of ethanol and water. This study extends our fundamental understanding of the thermal self-diffraction toward future optical characterization of the nanocolloid fluid motion.