Femtosecond Laser Ablation of Zr<sub>55</sub>Al<sub>10</sub>Ni<sub>5</sub>Cu<sub>30</sub> Bulk Metallic Glass

Abstract

Dependence of the femtosecond laser ablation depth on the laser pulse energy was investigated for Zr55Al10Ni5Cu30 bulk metallic glass. Investigation of the femtosecond laser ablation of bulk metallic glasses has not been reported. Femtosecond laser pulses (wavelength of 800 nm, pulse width of 100 fs, pulse energies of 2 – 900 μJ) were focused and irradiated on the polished surface of metals in air. The ablation depth of the metallic glass is deeper than that of its crystallized metal at a pulse energy in the strong ablation region. We suggest that the energy loss at grain boundaries of hot electrons which is accelerated by the laser electric field influence the ablation depth in the strong ablation region.