Qualitative analysis of single shot ablation craters with ultra-short pulses

Abstract

This work compares the effects of ablation on GaAs, Al, and Ti samples exposed to two different regimes: a focused 800nm, 14.13mJ pulse of 55fs duration from a Ti: Sapphire laser with an intensity of 2×1016 W cm-2 and a focused 1064nm, 14.61mJ pulse of 10ns duration from a Nd: YAG laser with an intensity of 2×1010 W cm-2. The craters are examined using optical microscopy, white light interferometry, and scanning electron microscopy. Among the effects examined in this paper are the conduction of energy throughout the material, formation of nanodroplets outside of the crater, nanopits in the center of the crater, and the effects of phase explosion inside the crater. Show more