2003/11/30 by Alexander V. Bulgakov, Igor Ozerov, Wladimir Marine
Physics and Astronomy · #physics.atm-clus #cond-mat.mtrl-sci #physics.chem-ph #physics.plasm-ph
paper · pdf · doi:10.1016/j.tsf.2003.11.136
published as Thin Solid Films 453-454 (2004) 557-561
arxiv created 2004/03/10 · arxiv updated 2009/12/01
Rich populations of clusters have been observed after femtosecond laser ablation of bulk silicon in vacuum. Size and velocity distributions of the clusters as well as their charge states have been analyzed by reflectron time-of-flight mass spectrometry. An efficient emission of both neutral silicon clusters Sin (up to n = 6) and their cations Sin+ (up to n = 10) has been observed. The clusters are formed even at very low laser fluences, below ablation threshold, and their relative yield increases with fluence. We show the dependencies of the cluster yield as well as the expansion dynamics on both laser wavelength and laser fluence. The mechanisms of the cluster formation are discussed.