Femtosecond laser ablation of metals

Abstract

Femtosecond laser ablation of metals and dielectrics is currently very topical due to its new and distinctive ablation process and the growing number of applications. The ablation process is rather complex and results in the formation of two distinct plumes, a fast, atomic component, and a slow component comprised mainly of nanoparticles. This thesis describes the results of an investigation into the femtosecond laser ablation of some metals. The experiments were performed for gold, silver, aluminium and tin to compare the differences in their ablation behaviour.