Laser ablation modeling for Gaussian and tophat beam profiles using a two-temperature model

Abstract

Laser ablation of material depends on the laser parameter used. In most cases, pulsed lasers with Gaussian beam profiles are used. However, due to the energy waste at the tail of the Gaussian beam profile, a tophat beam can be used to reduce this negative effect. In this study, a two-temperature model (TTM) was utilized to investigate the effect of the beam profile on the ablation of copper target. Tophat beam resulted into a higher ablation capacity as compared to a Gaussian beam. In addition, numerical findings show the logarithmic dependence of the amount of ablated materials on the laser fluence for both beam profiles.