Modeling crater formation in femtosecond-pulse laser damage from basic principles

TL;DR

This paper introduces a novel simulation approach using particle-in-cell methods to model crater formation caused by femtosecond laser damage, bridging the gap between detailed molecular dynamics and empirical models.

Contribution

The authors adapted the PIC method for laser damage modeling and implemented a pair-potential, enabling fundamental simulations of crater morphology.

Findings

PIC method effectively models crater morphology.

Simulation results match experimental observations.

Bridges gap between ab-initio and empirical models.

Abstract

We present the first fundamental simulation method for the determination of crater morphology due to femtosecond-pulse laser damage. To this end we have adapted the particle-in-cell (PIC) method commonly used in plasma physics for use in the study of laser damage, and developed the first implementation of a pair-potential for PIC codes. We find that the PIC method is a complementary approach to modeling laser damage, bridging the gap between fully ab-initio molecular dynamics approaches and empirical models. We demonstrate our method by modeling a femtosecond-pulse laser incident on a flat copper slab, for a range of intensities.