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Single-shot ablation of sapphire by ultrashort laser pulses

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Abstract

Single-shot laser ablation of single-crystal sapphire (0001) samples by ultrashort infra-red laser pulses has been undertaken. The laser-generated structures are analyzed by scanning-electron and atomic-force microscopy. The data produce an ablation threshold of 8.4±0.6 J/cm2 ((8±2)⋅1013 W/cm2) for a pulse duration of 100 fs. The observed features are compared to detailed numerical simulations based on a multiple-rate equation description of the electronic excitation by strong-field and collisional-impact excitation. The comparison shows that both the threshold and the ablation rate versus fluence is reproduced with good accuracy by the calculation, provided ablation is assumed to occur when the excitation exceeds ∼10% of the valence-electron density.

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Author notes

  1. Bjarke H. Christensen

    Present address: Danish Technological Institute, Kongsvang Allé 29, 8000, Aarhus C, Denmark

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Aarhus, 8000, Aarhus C, Denmark

    Mehrnaz N. Christensen, Jeppe Byskov-Nielsen, Bjarke H. Christensen & Peter Balling

Authors
  1. Mehrnaz N. Christensen
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  2. Jeppe Byskov-Nielsen
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  3. Bjarke H. Christensen
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  4. Peter Balling
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Peter Balling.

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Christensen, M.N., Byskov-Nielsen, J., Christensen, B.H. et al. Single-shot ablation of sapphire by ultrashort laser pulses. Appl. Phys. A 101, 279–282 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00339-010-5817-7

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00339-010-5817-7

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