Blast-wave studies of excimer laser ablation of ZnS

Dye-laser imaging has been used to study the blast-wave created during KrF laser ablation of ZnS in a gaseous environment allowing the temporal and spatial development of the shock wave and contact surface to be visualised. The data suggest that, over short time-scales, a transverse pressure gradient exists across the ablation site and this may contribute to the observed spatially non-uniform ablation rates.