Ablation of Solids

Another important phenomenon occurs when laser intensity is elevated

above a certain threshold-a material removal by laser action. This phe-

nomenon was coined as laser ablation in order to distinguish it from evap-

oration in equilibrium conditions. The ablation of materials by powerful

femtosecond lasers and applications of this effect in industry, medicine, ma-

terial science and technology has attracted a significant attention during the

past decades. This chapter is devoted to thorough description ofmechanisms

of ablation by ultra-short laser pulses, establishing thresholds, ablation rates,

ablated plume composition and other parameters as function of laser and

material parameters. Let us first discussing briefly the main differences of

laser ablation from familiar evaporation in equilibrium.