Electron- and phonon-coupling in femtosecond laser-induced desorption of CO from Ru(0001)

We studied femtosecond laser-induced desorption of CO from Ru(0001) using intense near-infrared and visible femtosecond laser pulses. We find a pronounced wavelength dependence with a factor 3–4 higher desorption yield at comparable fluence when desorption is induced via 400 nm light, compared to 800 nm and attribute this difference to the difference in penetration depth of the incident light. All our data can be described using empirical friction-modeling to determine the desorption mechanism with the same mechanism for both wavelengths. We find that both hot electrons and phonons contribute to the desorption process.