The role of electron-phonon coupling in ultrafast laser heating

Most of the ultrafast laser heating analysis to date has been accomplished with a constant electron-phonon coupling factor (G). Due to the significant changes in the electron and lattice temperature caused by high-power laser heating, G could be temperature dependent. In this article a phenomenological temperature-dependent G is introduced to simulate ultrafast laser heating in metals. The electron temperature and the ablation depth computed with the temperature-dependent G compare well with experimental data. (C) 2005 Laser Institute of America.