Hydrodynamic simulations of metal ablation by femtosecond laser irradiation

Ablation of Cu and Al targets has been performed with 170 fs laser pulses in the intensity range of 10^12-10^14 W/cm^2. We compare the measured removal depth with 1D hydrodynamic simulations. The electron-ion temperature decoupling is taken into account using the standard "two-temperature model". The influence of the early heat transfer by electronic thermal conduction on hydrodynamic material expansion and mechanical behavior is investigated. A good agreement between experimental and numerical matter ablation rates shows the importance of including solid-to-vapor evolution of the metal in the current modeling of the laser matter interaction.