Modeling of long term behavior of ablation plumes produced with ultrashort laser pulses

Expansion of ablation plumes created by intense’ultrashort lasers is determined by various complicated physical processes which have very different spatial and time scales. Since complete simulation by one model is practically impossible, we suggest using two models describing initial and final stages that can be matched at an intermediate time. The proposed modeling procedure connects laser parameters to plume properties far away from the ablation spot. Laser material interaction and beginning of the expansion are simulated with a one-dimensional hydrodynamics code and the final stage is modeled using an analytical solution for an expanding three-dimensional ellipsoidal gas cloud.