Morphology of femtosecond-laser-ablated borosilicate glass surfaces

We study the morphology of borosilicate glass surface machined by femtosecond laser pulses. Our observations show that a thin rim is formed around ablated craters after a single laser pulse. When multiple laser pulses are overlapped, the crater rims also overlap and produce a surface roughness. The rim appears to be a resolidified splash from a molten layer generated during the ablation process. We estimate that this molten layer is a few micrometers thick and exists for a few microseconds. During this melt lifetime, forces acting on the molten layer move it from the center to the edge of the crater. (C) 2003 American Institute of Physics.