Infrared emissivity studies of melting thresholds and structural changes of aluminium and copper samples heated by femtosecond laser pulses

摘要

We propose a new method for studies of laser-induced heating and melting of metallic foils. The method is based on time-integrated measurements of the surface infrared thermal emission. The experimental data are compared with a model where two equations describe the evolution of electron and lattice temperatures and the emissivity is found from the Drude model with the temperature-dependent electron collision frequency. A good agreement between the experimental data and the model is found for the aluminium samples. It is less satisfactory for the copper, but a signature of phase melting can also be pointed out. A multi-pulse laser irradiation study indicates significant changes in the surface emittance, related to preheating, oxidation and/or chemical modification of the copper sample. The proposed method is relatively simple and complementary to the pump-probe technique.