Femtosecond laser ablation of graphite: study of the plasma plume and thin films deposition

Summary form only given. Pulsed laser deposition (PLD) has number of advantages over conventional thin films deposition techniques (operationally simple, thickness and film properties control, low substrate temperature). Using ultrashort laser pulses, one may add some more interesting properties such as very high quality and improved film adhesion on substrates. At this range of power density on the target (5 GW peak focused onto a 100 /spl mu/m diameter spot) and time scale, laser-matter interaction differs strongly from the case of "long pulses" (i.e., longer than a few picosecond). In particular, nonlinear processes (multiphoton ionization) play a major role in ablation, thermal processes being drastically reduced. We report study of femtosecond-laser ablation of a carbon target and deposition of carbon thin films.