Femtosecond laser ablation: imaging expansion dynamics of the plasma

Summary form only given. The expansion dynamic of plasma produced by femtosecond laser ablation of different materials has been studied with a time resolved CCD camera in the UV-visible range. About 1 mJ energy of a laser operating at 620nm issued from an amplified femtosecond CPM dye laser is focused (focusing diameter:0.5 mm) onto a rotating-target. The laser pulse width can be tuned from femtosecond to picosecond and nanosecond duration. In the femtosecond pulse regime the plume behavior is linked to physical properties of the target. Time resolved analysis of the plasma plume from 10 nanoseconds to several milliseconds, indicates that several populations of species are ejected from the target. The pulsed laser deposited (PLD) films are strongly influenced by the nature and kinetic energy of the species reaching the substrate. This issue will be highlighted in the precise case of the femtosecond PLD of BaTiO/sub 3/.