Ablation pressure scaling at short laser wavelength -: art. no. 067403

The ablation pressure at a 0.44-mum laser wavelength has been measured at irradiance up to 2x10(14) W/cm(2). The diagnostics consisted in the detection of shock breakout from stepped Al targets. By adopting large focal spots and smoothed laser beams, the lateral energy transport and drilling effects have been avoided. The measured scaling shows a fair agreement with analytical models.