Probing ultrashort-pulse laser excitation of sapphire: From the initial carrier creation to material ablation

Kristian J. Waedegaard (1) , Ditte B. Sandkamm (1) , Alexandros Mouskeftaras (2) , Stéphane Guizard (2) , Peter Balling (1)

1 Department of Physics and Astronomy [Aarhus]
2 LSI - Laboratoire des Solides Irradiés

Ultrashort-pulse laser excitation of dielectrics has been investigated over a large span of intensities. Experimentally, single-shot studies on single-crystal sapphire samples combine time-resolved spectral interferometry with time-resolved reflectivity and ablation-rate measurements. The complete development of the excitation from the first creation of conduction-band electrons at low intensities to the formation of a highly excited plasma and associated material fragmentation is observed experimentally and explained by a single theoretical model, which combines material excitation in a multiple-rate equation description with light propagation. Copyright (C) EPLA, 2014

Domains: Mechanics [physics.med-ph]

Kristian J. Waedegaard, Ditte B. Sandkamm, Alexandros Mouskeftaras, Stéphane Guizard, Peter Balling. Probing ultrashort-pulse laser excitation of sapphire: From the initial carrier creation to material ablation. EPL - Europhysics Letters, 2014, 105 (47001), pp.n/a. ⟨10.1209/0295-5075/105/47001⟩. ⟨hal-01011921⟩