Optical behaviour of melting for a thin metal film

Reflectance measurements have been performed for gallium films at normal incidence (from 0.3 to 0.9 μm) in terms of temperature (from -20°C to + 40°C). The basic results are: (i) a drastic change in reflectance when melting occurs (about 20% at 0.6 μm), and (ii) a shift in the temperature of the solid-liquid transition with the thickness of the film which only takes place on and after the second melting (about 7°C for a film 250A?thick).