Abstract

Ultrashort pulsed laser ablation of absorbing solids exhibits unique, material-independent properties such as an extremely sharp threshold and ablation plumes with very steep fronts towards vacuum, leading to the observation of a characteristic transient interference phenomenon.¹ To directly follow the expansion dynamics after femtosecond laser excitation we have developed an interferometric setup, which allows highly accurate measurements of transient surface deformations with a vertical sensitivity of < 1 nm, a temporal resolution of 100 fs, and a lateral spatial resolution of 1–2 μm.

© 2002 Optical Society of America