Measurement of ultrashort laser ablation of four metals (Al, Cu, Ni, W) in the single-pulse regime

We provide measurements of the ablation of four post-transition and transition metals [aluminum (Al), copper (Cu), nickel (Ni) and tungsten (W)] irradiated by single 800 nm laser pulses, in ultrashort regime from 100 femtosecond (fs) pulse duration down to 15 fs covering a temporal range little explored as yet. For each metal and pulse duration tested, we measured its ablation characteristics (depth and diameter) as a function of incident energy allowing us to determine its laser-induced ablation threshold and ablation rate in a single-shot regime. For all the metals studied, we observed a constant ablation threshold fluence as a function of pulse duration extending this scaling law to pulse duration of few-optical-cycles. We provide evidence of the interest of adjusting the incident fluence to maximize the energy specific ablation depth but also of the absence of any peculiar advantage related to the use of extremely short-pulse duration for ablation purposes. Those informative and detailed ablation data have been obtained in the single-pulse regime and in air ambiance. They can serve as rewarding feedback for further establishing smart strategy for femtosecond laser micromachining and laser damage handling of metallic and metal-based components as well as for enhancing accuracy of modeling of fs laser interaction with metals in ultrashort regime.