Ultrafast time resolved microscopy of femtosecond laser irradiated surfaces reveals a universal feature of the ablating surface on nanosecond time scale. All investigated materials show rings in the ablation zone, which were identified as an interference pattern. Optically sharp surface occur during expansion of the heated material as a result of anomalous hydrodynamic expansion effects. Experimentally, the rings are observed within a certain fluence range which strongly depends on material parameters. The lower limit of this fluence range is the ablation threshold. We predict a fluence ratio between the upper and the lower fluence limit approximately equal to the ratio of critical temperature to boiling temperature at normal pressure. This estimate is experimentally confirmed on different materials.

Date Published: 26 June 2001
PDF: 11 pages
Proc. SPIE 4423, Nonresonant Laser-Matter Interaction (NLMI-10), (26 June 2001); doi: 10.1117/12.431221

Published in SPIE Proceedings Vol. 4423:
Nonresonant Laser-Matter Interaction (NLMI-10)
Mikhail N. Libenson, Editor(s)