Modeling of UV pulsed-laser ablation of metallic targets

A model to describe the laser ablation of metallic targets is presented. It accounts for the main physical processes involved in the laser-solid-plasma interaction by considering the photon absorption and the ionization mechanisms that are active in the plasma, as well as the laser-produced plasma kinetics. The model is used to simulate the laser ablation of aluminum targets irradiated with a 6-ns UV laser pulse at 0.35 mu m, and the results are compared with experimental findings. Calculations show that all the investigated plasma parameters strongly depend on the laser intensity until a roll-off is reached at irradiance greater than or equal to 1.5 GW cm(-2). The satisfactorily good agreement between model predictions and experimental findings confirms that laser-plasma interaction processes and plasma kinetics play a relevant role during nanosecond laser ablation of metals in the laser intensity range of concern in this study.