Thermal and non-thermal explosion in metals ablation by femtosecond laser pulse: classical approach of the Two Temperature Model

It has been experimentally demonstrated that metal ablation by ultrashort laser pulses at femtosecond regime is very different from that due to short laser pulses owing to the difference between the corresponding physical... [ view full abstract ]

It has been experimentally demonstrated that metal ablation by ultrashort laser pulses at femtosecond regime is very different from that due to short laser pulses owing to the difference between the corresponding physical mechanisms that take place. In literature, there is no great differences between the theoretical models applied for the both regimes.

In this work we propose a classical approach with a two Temperature Model TTMc to study a cooper target irradiated by single laser pulse with 120 fs at 800 nm in air room. In our modeling we consider the metal film during the irradiation as an ideal plasma. Our numerical result are compared to those obtained by the existing TTM and also with the experimental data.

It is well known that the metal ablation mechanism by short laser pulsesmainly occurs by phase explosion (thermal explosion), then our purpose is to bring an answer to the rising question: what is the physical mechanism responsible for the ablation of metals by ultrashort laser pulse? 

Our results show that, successively, a thermal and non-thermal explosion occurs in metal ablation by ultrashort laser pulse.