Laser-induced ablation of tantalum in a wide range of pulse durations

We present data and analysis of the laser-induced ablation of pure tantalum (Ta, $$Z=73$$ ). We have identified different physical regimes using a wide range of laser pulse durations. A comparison of the influence of strongly varying laser pulse parameters on high-Z materials is presented. The crater depth caused by three different laser systems of pulse duration $${\varDelta }\tau _1=5\,\mathrm {ns}$$ and wavelength $$\lambda _1=1064\,\mathrm {nm}$$ , $${\varDelta }\tau _2=35\,\mathrm {ps}$$ , $$\lambda _2=355\,\mathrm {nm}$$ and $${\varDelta }\tau _3=8.5\,\mathrm {fs}$$ , $$\lambda _3=790\,\mathrm {nm}$$ are analyzed via confocal microscopy as a function of laser fluence and intensity. The minimum laser fluence needed for ablation, called threshold fluence, decreases with shorter pulse duration from $$1.10\,\mathrm {J/cm}^2$$ for the nanosecond laser to $$0.17\,\mathrm {J/cm}^2$$ for the femtosecond laser.