Drilling of Copper Using a Dual-Pulse Femtosecond Laser

The drilling of copper using a dual-pulse femtosecond laser with wavelength of 800 nm, pulse duration of 120 fs and a variable pulse separation time (0.1–150 ps) is investigated theoretically. A one-dimensional two-temperature model with temperature-dependent material properties is considered, including dynamic optical properties and the thermal-physical properties. Rapid phase change and phase explosion models are incorporated to simulate the material ablation process. Numerical results show that under the same total laser fluence of 4 J/cm2, a dual-pulse femtosecond laser with a pulse separation time of 30–150 ps can increase the ablation depth, compared to the single pulse. The optimum pulse separation time is 85 ps. It is also demonstrated that a dual pulse with a suitable pulse separation time for different laser fluences can enhance the ablation rate by about 1.6 times.