Measurement and Prediction of Damage Threshold of Gold Films During Femtosecond Laser Ablation

The damage threshold measurement of gold films is carried out with ultrashort-pulse laser. An enhanced two temperature model is developed to encounter the limitation of linear modeling during ultrashort pulse laser ablation. In which the electron heat capacity is calculated using a quantum mechanical approach based on a Fermi-Dirac distribution, temperature-dependent electron thermal conductivity valid beyond the Fermi temperature is adopted, and reflectivity and absorption coefficient are estimated by applying a temperature-dependent electron relaxation time. The predicted damage threshold using the proposed enhanced modelclosely agreed with experimental results, demonstrating the importance of considering transient thermal and optical properties in the modeling of ultrashort pulse laser ablation.