Abstract :
The ablation of cobalt with 20 ns pulses of 308 nm XeCl excimer laser radiation is investigated. The dependence of the
ablation rate on laser ¯uence, spot area, and pulse number is determined. The experimental results are compared with a
numerical calculation based on an improved thermal model. The model, which considers proper vapor attenuation, is shown to
be in good agreement with experiment. # 2001 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved
