Ultrafast laser ablation characteristics of PZT ceramic: Analysis methods and comparison with metals

Abstract : We have investigated femtosecond laser (120 fs, 800 nm, 5 kHz) ablation of piezoceramic PZT (Pb[ZrxTi1-x]O3). To test the reliability of used analysis methods, results are compared to ablation of pure nickel. The ablation thresholds are determined to be around 0.38 J/cm² for PZT and 0.13 J/cm² for Ni depending on the number of pulses. For the same irradiation conditions, the ablation rate of PZT is almost 500 nm/pulse at 10 J/cm² which corresponds to nearly five times deeper than the ablation rate obtained for nickel at the same fluence. This work presents also in details the analysis methods taking into account the Gaussian shape of the beam and the characteristics of a dynamical process (groove or impact effects, focal plane or image plane sample positioning) which can be relevant for industrial applications.