Modeling of femtosecond ablation of aluminum film with single laser pulses

Detailed investigation of pulsed laser ablation dynamics is performed for aluminum target under action of 100 fs pulses with peak intensity 3.95 × 1012 W/cm2 and wavelength 0.8 μm.Non-equilibrium two-temperature model with hydrodynamic Stephan problem was used for modeling. Explicit tracking of moving interphase boundaries permits exact determination of their velocity and amount of removed and evaporated material. Detailed ablation process is analyzed using the study of temperature, pressure and density evolution in the target. High phase front velocities (melting up to 5 km/s and evaporation up to 350 m/s) are caused by strong overheating of solid and liquid phases.

Research highlights▶ Laser ablation dynamics for Al with 100 fs, 3.95 × 1012 W/cm2 pulses wavelength 0.8 μm. ▶ Non-equilibrium two-temperature model with hydrodynamic Stephan problem was used. ▶ Explicit tracking of boundaries permits exact determination of their velocities. ▶ High front velocities are caused by strong overheating of solid and liquid phases.