Thermal and nonthermal ion emission during high-fluence femtosecond laser ablation of metallic targets

Abstract

We have investigated the emission of positive ions from metallic targets irradiated with intense, ultrashort laser pulses (≈120 fs) at 780 nm, in both S and P polarized states. The measured energy spectra show the presence of a nonthermal, high-energy (several keV) ion component accompanying low-energy ions (tens of eV) produced by a thermal mechanism. The yield of the high-energy component shows a strong dependence on both laser fluence and light polarization. For the low-energy component a higher ablation efficiency was observed for P polarization, and ascribed to a more effective absorption mechanism active during the laser–target interaction.