Simulation of absorption of femtosecond laser pulses in solid-density copper

We present a simulation of absorption of femtosecond laser pulses by a copper target. The modeling involved thermodynamic functions calculated by using a first-principles full-potential linear muffin-tin orbital method and chemical-picture-based model of dense plasma utilizing a superconfiguration approach. The results of the simulation are compared to experimental and other theoretical data. The role of the electron-ion energy exchange is analyzed and further work on detailed improvement of the presented theoretical model is discussed. (C) 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.