Laser ablation thresholds of pure metals with short laser pulses

Summary form only given. A large amount of both theoretical and experimental work on laser ablation with ultra short pulses has been done until recently. The matter ejection from the surface might seem to be thoroughly studied. However, the process of controlled ablation of matter has not been clearly understood and needs further investigation. As the knowledge of the ablation threshold allows better explanation of the physical mechanisms of short pulse laser ablation, it was the purpose of the study to investigate the ablation threshold of various metal samples with picosecond and femtosecond laser pulses.