Ultrafast Dynamics of Femtosecond Laser-Produced Plasmas

Abstract

We study the formation and subsequent evolution of microplasmas during and after the interaction of intense femtosecond laser pulses (peak intensities up to 1017 W/cm2) with solid materials. Pump-probe techniques are used to perform femtosecond time-resolved measurements of the optical reflectivity and of the second harmonic generation in the plasma. We have characterized the angular dependence, the polarization properties, and the frequency spectra of both the fundamental and the second harmonic (SH) of the reflected probe pulse.