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Melting of gold by ultrashort laser pulses: advanced two-temperature modeling and comparison with surface damage experiments

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Abstract

The ultrafast-laser-induced solid–liquid phase transition in metals is still not clearly understood and its accurate quantitative description remains a challenge. Here, we systematically investigated, both experimentally and theoretically, the melting of gold by single femto- and picosecond near-infrared laser pulses. Two laser systems with wavelengths of 800 and 1030 nm and pulse durations ranging from 124 fs to 7 ps were used, and the damage and ablation thresholds were determined for each irradiation condition. The theoretical analysis was based on two-temperature modeling. Different expressions for the electron–lattice coupling rate and contribution of ballistic electrons were examined. In addition, the number of free electrons involved in the optical response is suggested to be dependent on the laser intensity and the influence of the fraction of involved electrons on the damage threshold was investigated. Only one combination of modelling parameters was able to describe consistently all the measured damage thresholds. Physical arguments are presented to explain the modeling results.

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Acknowledgements

The authors thank Dr. J. Bonse for providing the bulk gold target. This work was supported by the European Regional Development Fund and the state budget of the Czech Republic (Project BIATRI: No. CZ.02.1.01/0.0/0.0/15_003/0000445). S. A. L. and A. V. B. also acknowledge financial support from the Russian Foundation for Basic Research (Project No. 19-38-90203).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. HiLASE Centre, Institute of Physics of the Czech Academy of Sciences, Za Radnicí 828, 25241, Dolní Břežany, Czech Republic

    Sergey A. Lizunov, Alexander V. Bulgakov & Nadezhda M. Bulgakova

  2. S.S. Kutateladze Institute of Thermophysics SB RAS, 1 Lavrentyev Ave, 630090, Novosibirsk, Russia

    Sergey A. Lizunov & Alexander V. Bulgakov

  3. EaStCHEM, School of Chemistry, University of Edinburgh, David Brewster Road, Edinburgh, EH9 3FJ, UK

    Eleanor E. B. Campbell

  4. Department of Physics, Ewha Womans University, Seoul, 03760, Republic of Korea

    Eleanor E. B. Campbell

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  1. Sergey A. Lizunov
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  4. Nadezhda M. Bulgakova
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Correspondence to Nadezhda M. Bulgakova.

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Lizunov, S.A., Bulgakov, A.V., Campbell, E.E.B. et al. Melting of gold by ultrashort laser pulses: advanced two-temperature modeling and comparison with surface damage experiments. Appl. Phys. A 128, 602 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00339-022-05733-4

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