title: Modeling crater formation in femtosecond-pulse laser damage from basic principles.
abstract: We present the first fundamental simulation method for the determination of crater morphology due to femtosecond-pulse laser damage. To this end we have adapted the particle-in-cell (PIC) method commonly used in plasma physics for use in the study of laser damage and developed the first implementation of a pair potential for PIC codes. We find that the PIC method is a complementary approach to modeling laser damage, bridging the gap between fully ab-initio molecular dynamics approaches and empirical models. We demonstrate our method by modeling a femtosecond-pulse laser incident on a flat copper slab for a range of intensities.
authors.forename: Robert A
authors.initials: RA
authors.lastname: Mitchell
authors.forename: Douglass W
authors.initials: DW
authors.lastname: Schumacher
authors.forename: Enam A
authors.initials: EA
authors.lastname: Chowdhury