Observation of the surface dynamics of femtosecond laser ablation by time-resolved soft X-ray imaging technique

Nishikino, Masaharu; Hasegawa, Noboru; Tomita, Takuro*; Minami, Yasuo*; Takei, Ryota*; Baba, Motoyoshi*; Eyama, Tsuyoshi*; Takayoshi, Shodai*; Kawachi, Tetsuya; Yamagiwa, Mitsuru; Suemoto, Toru

We have developed the pump and probe interferometer and reflective imaging technique of the metal surfaces during the femtosecond laser ablation by using the laser-driven soft X-ray laser at the wavelength of 13.9 nm. The pumping laser used for the ablation was a Ti: Sapphire laser pulse with the duration of 80 fs pulse at a central wavelength of 795 nm, and had a gaussian spatial profile. By using the X-ray imaging technique, the time resolved image of nano-scaled ablation dynamics of the platinum, the gold, the tungsten were obtained. We have compared the plasma expansion measured by the X-ray interferometer with the ablated hole measured by the atomic force microscopy, and discussed the fluence dependence of the femtosecond laser ablation.