Experimental study on 800 nm femtosecond laser ablation of fused silica in air and vacuum

Ablation rates of fused silica were studied as a function of femtosecond laser pulse fluences (0.7–41 J/cm²) in air and vacuum. The experiment was conducted by using a Ti:sapphire laser that emits radiation at 800 nm with a pulse width of 35 fs and a repetition rate of 10 Hz. The morphology and ablation depth of laser-induced damage crater were evaluated by using optical microscopy and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). Ablation rates were calculated from the depth of craters induced by multiple laser pulses. Results showed that two ablation regimes, i.e. non-thermal and thermal ablation co-existed in air and vacuum at low and moderate fluences. A drop of ablation rate was observed at high fluence (higher than 9.5 J/cm²) in air. While in vacuum, the ablation rate increased continuously with the increasing of laser fluence and much higher than that in air. The drop of ablation rate observed at high fluence in air was due to the strong defocusing effects associated with the non-equilibrium ionization of air. Furthermore, the laser-induced damage threshold (LIDT), which was determined from the relationship between crater area and the logarithm of laser energy, was found to depend on the number of incident pulses on the same spot, and similar phenomenon was observed in air and vacuum.