Real-time probing of ultrafast residual charge dynamics

The temporal evolution of residual charges during laser ablation of metal and dielectric materials was investigated by measuring the correlated transient electric field using femtosecond electron shadow imaging and deflectometry. The results indicate that residual charges in metals can redistribute themselves almost instantly, abiding by the boundary conditions and Maxwell equations in the same way as they would at electrostatic equilibrium condition, but residual charges in dielectrics are confined within the excited area for hundreds of picoseconds and beyond. These observations provide an experimental support to the alleged Coulomb explosion phenomenon in previous studies as well as a reference for modeling residual charge dynamics.