We have experimentally studied femtosecond laser induced desorption of polyatomic molecules (NH3, ND3) from Pt (111), as a function of laser fluence and laser pulse duration (FWHM) from 120 fs to 1.0 ps. We found that the desorption yield does not depend on pulse width, in contrast to the results of a previously studied system, CO on the same metal surface. In addition, no isotope effect between NH3 and ND3 was observed. All these data are consistent with a thermal desorption mechanism instead of a hot-electron mediated process.
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Cai et al. (2001) studied this question.