Influence of the Pulse Duration in the ps-Regime on the Ablation Efficiency of Metals

Ablation characteristics of copper and stainless steel with laser pulses from 10 to 100 ps at 1064 nm wavelength were studied. The influence of the pulse duration and the number of pulses on the threshold fluence and the penetration depth has been investigated. The results show a strong decrease of the ablation efficiency and quality with increasing pulse duration.