Ablation scaling in laser-produced plasmas with laser intensity, laser wavelength, and target atomic number

Layered target experiments at 1.06 μm have been performed in order to measure the mass-ablation rate ṁ and the ablation pressure Pa as a function of absorbed laser intensity Ia, laser wavelength λL, and target atomic number Z in steady-state ablation dominated by nonlocalized inverse bremsstrahlung absorption. The results can be expressed as ṁexp(kg/ sec cm2)≂65 [Ia(W/cm2)/1013]5/9 λ−4/9L(μm)Z1/4 and Pa(Mbar)≂2.5[Ia(W/ cm 2)/ 1013]7/9 λ−2/9L(μm)Z1/8. The measured results show good agreement with theory for nonlocalized absorption and with data of others.