6. Thermal Interaction of Particle and Radiation

The interaction between nanoparticles and radiation holds great interest in nanomedicine, introducing such possibilities as selective cell targeting by nanoparticles to create highly localized thermal cell damage. The evolution of the thermal fields in the particle depends on an interplay of heat generation and thermal diffusion governed by material properties. This chapter first describes the thermodynamic model used and then focuses on the heating and cooling kinetics of nanoparticles by short and ultrashort laser pulses in the femtosecond, picosecond, and nanosecond regimes. The time-dependent simulations and detailed analyses are carried out for heating of nanoparticles, including biological particles. This chapter contains material adapted from our publications listed at the end of the chapter. A detailed list of references and reviews on a given topic of this chapter can be found in those original papers.