Jet formation in spallation of metal film from substrate under action of femtosecond laser pulse

Abstract

It is well known that during ablation by an ultrashort laser pulse, the main contribution to ablation of the substance is determined not by evaporation, but by the thermomechanical spallation of the substance. For identical metals and pulse parameters, the type of spallation is determined by film thickness d f . An important gauge is metal heating depth d T at the two-temperature stage, at which electron temperature is higher than ion temperature. We compare cases with d f < d T (thin film) and d f ≫ d T (bulk target). Radius R L of the spot of heating by an optical laser is the next (after d f ) important geometrical parameter. The morphology of film bulging in cases where d f < d T on the substrate (blistering) changes upon a change in radius R L in the range from diffraction limit R L ∼ λ to high values of R L ≫ λ, where λ ∼ 1 μm is the wavelength of optical laser radiation. When d f < d T , R L ∼ λ, and F abs > F m, gold film deposited on the glass target acquires a cupola-shaped blister with a miniature frozen nanojet in the form of a tip on the circular top of the cupola (F abs and F m are the absorbed energy and the melting threshold of the film per unit surface area of the film). A new physical mechanism leading to the formation of the nanojet is proposed.