Ultrafast laser-induced electron dynamics in dielectric coatings close to laser damage threshold

Mark Mero
Ph.D. student, Department of Physics and Astronomy
The University of New Mexico

The talk will be at noon in room 101 at CHTM (Center for High Technology Materials, 1313 Goddard SE, at south campus of UNM, can be reached by shuttle, 272-7800).

Following the talk there will be a light lunch as usual.

As laser machining and material modifications by subpicosecond pulses are entering the commercial sector, there is an increased need for a computationally inexpensive, simple model that is able to give reliable predictions about single- and multiple pulse damage and pre-damage behavior of a wide range of materials. As a first step with this goal in mind, two sets of experiments were conducted. In the first experiment we measured damage threshold energy densities vs. pulse duration. In the second set of experiments we performed time-resolved pump-probe spectroscopy of the excited conduction band electron dynamics. In the talk, the experimental data and the corresponding modeling and interpretation are presented.