XECL LASER-ABLATION OF BIOCOMPATIBLE PTFE STUDIED BY PHOTOTHERMAL BEAM DEFLECTION

Laser beam deflection is a useful tool for studying the dynamics of th e pulsed laser ablation mechanism, and has the advantage of being used as an in situ laser damage monitoring technique for both bulk and thi n film polymeric and biological tissue samples. This work employs the photothermal deflection technique to study possible photo-acoustic phe nomena during the excimer laser ablation of biocompatible polytetraflu oroethylene (PTFE) and to examine the crater surface quality by video microscopy. Although photo-acoustic phenomena are detected in the lase r fluence threshold region, ablation is mainly the result of the photo thermal process.