Burst-Mode Femtosecond Ablation Of Materials

We are examining the merits and differences of using finite bursts of GHz-level pulses for ablating materials in vacuum and in ambient air. We have previously made comparative studies of the ablation of copper and Lexan by 850-nm femtosecond 4-mJ pulses using single-shot and eight-pulse, 30-ns-duration bursts. Five-fold increases in the copper ablation rate in ambient air were seen for burst mode as compared to single-shot. We are now extending this investigation to cover other multi-pulse modalities and other materials, and will report the latest results in this ongoing investigation