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Absorption of ultrashort laser pulses in solid targets

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  09 March 2009

F. Cornolti ,
P. Mulser  and
M. Hahn
F. Cornolti
Affiliation:
Dipartimento di Fisica, Università di Pisa, Piazza Torricelli 2, 56100 Pisa, Italy
P. Mulser
Affiliation:
Theoretical Quantum Electronics, Technische Hochschule, Hochschulstrasse 4A, 6100 Darmstadt, Germany
M. Hahn
Affiliation:
Theoretical Quantum Electronics, Technische Hochschule, Hochschulstrasse 4A, 6100 Darmstadt, Germany
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Abstract

Femtosecond laser pulses are capable of producing very high light intensities at moderate pulse energies. We study the laser light absorption at flux densities of 1017 W/cm2 and higher during the plasma formation and the plasma heating process. In the first stage multiphoton and collisional ionization dominate. Modification of the inverse bremsstrahlung absorption occur owing to ionization dephasing. In the second stage beam energy conversion is mainly by collisional absorption at normal incidence, and by resonance absorption at oblique illumination. Simultaneously strong electron heat conduction provides for plasma formation and heating in deeper layers of the solid not accessible to the laser light. The penetration depth of the laser beam is modified by the anomalous skin effect. The electron-ion collision frequency at the high laser intensities under consideration is determined by the oscillation energy of the electrons rather than by their thermal motion. Although it reaches high values (1014-1016 S-1), all kinds of solid targets become strongly reflecting (>60%) owing to the formation of electron densities largely exceeding those of solid-state plasmas. Effects modifying the degree of absorption are briefly discussed.

Type
Research Article
Information
Laser and Particle Beams , Volume 9 , Issue 2 , June 1991 , pp. 465 - 475
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1991

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References

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