Femtosecond laser ablation of silicon in air and vacuum

Femtosecond (fs) pulse laser ablation of silicon targets in air and in vacuum is investigated using a time-resolved shadowgraphic method. The observed dynamic process of the fs laser ablation of silicon in air is significantly different from that in vacuum. Similar to the ablation of metallic targets, while the shock wave front and a series of nearly concentric and semicircular stripes, as well as the contact front, are clearly identifiable in the process of ablation under 1£105 Pa, these phenom