COMPUTATIONAL MODELING OF PHYSICAL PROCESSES DURING LASER-ABLATION

A combined theoretical and experimental effort to model various physic al processes Juring laser ablation of solids using a variety of comput ational techniques is described. Currently the focus of the modeling i s on the following areas: (a) rapid transformations through the liquid and vapor phases under possibly nonequilibrium thermodynamic conditio ns induced by laser-solid interactions; (b) breakdown of the vapor int o a plasma in the early stages of ablation through both electronic and photoionization processes; (c) hydrodynamic behavior of the vapor/pla sma during and after ablation; and (d) the effects of initial conditio ns in the vapor, in particular, the nature of the initial velocity dis tribution, on the characteristics of subsequent vapor expansion. The r esults from the modeling will be compared with experimental observatio ns where possible. (C) 1997 Elsevier Science S.A.