Investigation of the particle size distribution of the ejected material generated during the single femtosecond laser pulse ablation of aluminium

Single femtosecond laser pulses are employed to ablate an aluminium target in vacuum, and the particle size distribution of the ablated material deposited on a mica substrate is examined with atomic force microscopy (AFM). The recorded AFM images show that these particles have a mean radius of several tens of nanometres. It is also determined that the mean radius of these deposited nanoparticles increases when the laser fluence at the aluminium target increases from 0.44 J/cm2 to 0.63 J/cm2. The mechanism of the laser-induced nanoparticle generation is thought to be photomechanical tensile stress relaxation. Raman spectroscopy measurements confirm that the nanoparticles thus produced have the same structure as the bulk aluminium.