  We study the all-optical switching behavior of one-dimensional
metal-dielectric photonic crystals due to the nonlinearity of the free metal
electrons. A polychromatic pump-probe setup is used to determine the wavelength
and pump intensity dependence of the ultrafast transmission suppression as well
as the dynamics of the process on a subpicosecond timescale. We find ultrafast
(sub-picosecond) as well as a slow (millisecond) behavior. We present a model
of the ultrafast dynamics and nonlinear response which can fit the measured
data well and allows us to separate the thermal and the electronic response of
the system.
