Pulsed laser ablation of copper

The laser ablation of copper with a 532 nm, 6 ns laser has been investigated in the regime normally used for pulsed laser deposition. The ablation depth per pulse and the flux and energy distribution of the ions in the plume were measured and compared to the deposition rate as measured by a quartz microbalance. These measurements were compared with an analytic model of ablation via a laser sustained plasma. It is shown that self-sputtering of the growing film is significant.