Dynamics of the plumes produced by ultrafast laser ablation of metals

Journal Article · Sun Aug 15 00:00:00 EDT 2010 · Journal of Applied Physics

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1063/1.3475149· OSTI ID:21484501

Donnelly, T; Lunney, J G ^[1]; Amoruso, S; Bruzzese, R; Wang, X ^[2]; Ni, X ^[3]

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1. School of Physics, Trinity College Dublin, Dublin 2 (Ireland)
2. Dipartimento di Scienze Fisiche and CNR-SPIN, Universita degli Studi di Napoli Federico II, Complesso Universitario di Monte S. Angelo, Via Cintia, I-80126 Napoli (Italy)
3. Department of Electronic Engineering, Tianjin University of Technology and Education, Tianjin 300222 (China)

We have analyzed ultrafast laser ablation of a metallic target (Nickel) in high vacuum addressing both expansion dynamics of the various plume components (ionic and nanoparticle) and basic properties of the ultrafast laser ablation process. While the ion temporal profile and ion angular distribution were analyzed by means of Langmuir ion probe technique, the angular distribution of the nanoparticulate component was characterized by measuring the thickness map of deposition on a transparent substrate. The amount of ablated material per pulse was found by applying scanning white light interferometry to craters produced on a stationary target. We have also compared the angular distribution of both the ionic and nanoparticle components with the Anisimov model. While the agreement for the ion angular distribution is very good at any laser fluence (from ablation threshold up to {approx_equal}1 J/cm{sup 2}), some discrepancies of nanoparticle plume angular distribution at fluencies above {approx_equal}0.4 J/cm{sup 2} are interpreted in terms of the influence of the pressure exerted by the nascent atomic plasma plume on the initial hydrodynamic evolution of the nanoparticle component. Finally, analyses of the fluence threshold and maximum ablation depth were also carried out, and compared to predictions of theoretical models. Our results indicate that the absorbed energy is spread over a length comparable with the electron diffusion depth L{sub c} ({approx_equal}30 nm) of Ni on the timescale of electron-phonon equilibration and that a logarithmic dependence is well-suited for the description of the variation in the ablation depth on laser fluence in the investigated range.

• OSTI ID: 21484501
• Journal Information: Journal of Applied Physics, Vol. 108, Issue 4; Other Information: DOI: 10.1063/1.3475149; (c) 2010 American Institute of Physics; ISSN 0021-8979
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE
ABLATION
ANGULAR DISTRIBUTION
DEPOSITION
DIFFUSION
ELECTRON-PHONON COUPLING
INTERFEROMETRY
ION PROBES
IONS
LANGMUIR PROBE
LASERS
NANOSTRUCTURES
NICKEL
PARTICLES
PLASMA
PLASMA DIAGNOSTICS
PLASMA EXPANSION
PLUMES
PULSES
SUBSTRATES
CHARGED PARTICLES
COUPLING
DISTRIBUTION
ELECTRIC PROBES
ELEMENTS
EXPANSION
METALS
PROBES
TRANSITION ELEMENTS