Ultrafast thermal modulation dynamics during ripple formation induced by a femtosecond laser multi-pulse vortex beam

Abstract This work theoretically investigated the ultrafast thermal modulation dynamics during early formation of ripples on an Au film induced by femtosecond laser multi-pulse vortex beam irradiation. An extended two-temperature dynamics model that comprehensively considers optical interference modulation for the formation of seed ripples, transient reflectivity and non-equilibrium thermal transfer was self-consistently built to predict high-contrast ripple formation. The two-dimensional evolution of electron and phonon temperature modulations during ripple formation in a high non-equilibrium state of Au film were obtained via femtosecond laser multi-pulse vortex beam irradiation. It was revealed that ripple contrast can be significantly amplified by shortening the laser wavelength, increasing the pulse number, or enlarging the laser fluence of the vortex beam. Moreover, the electron – phonon coupling time during ripple formation is fully explored in detail. This study provides valuable insights into optimizing laser parameters for controlled high-contrast ripple formation on Au films.