Bubble formation induced by nanosecond laser ablation in water and its diagnosis by optical transmission technique

摘要

In this paper, bubble formation and ablation rate in laser ablation of a thin-film aluminum target are studied. The target was an aluminum thin-film coated on a quartz substrate and interacted by a nanosecond Nd:YAG laser beam in ambient air and distilled water. Measuring optical transmission of a He-Ne beam through the ablation region shows that the ablation rate in water is higher than that in ambient air. The results also show that an initial peak appears in the transmission signal which is an evidence for bubble formation in water. Analyzing the data is useful for monitoring the bubble formation in water and relatively estimating the ablation rate.