Simulation of the Melting Volume in Thin Molybdenum Films as a Function of the Laser Pulse Duration

The interaction of a laser pulse with molybdenum is studied over a wide range of pulse durations from 5 fs to 100 ps using the two-temperature-model (TTM) at constant energy density. The TTM is used to calculate the electron and lattice temperature dynamics and the resulting melting volume. The results show, the maximum melting volume is reached at a pulse duration of 10 ps. The electron heat transfer is dominant for the ultra-short pulse regime below 10 ps, while the lattice heat transfer is influenced by longer pulse durations.