Ultrafast dynamics of the thin surface plasma layer and the periodic ripples formation on GaP crystal irradiated by a single femtosecond laser pulse

Ultrafast dynamic of thin surface plasma layer plays a crucial role in the formation of periodic surface ripples after laser pulse irradiation. Using the pump-probe imaging technique, a complete scenario of the periodic ripples formation on a GaP surface is demonstrated after being irradiated by single femtosecond laser pulse. The ripples firstly emerge at delay time of several tens of picoseconds, and disappear completely at several hundreds of picoseconds, resulting in a transient overheating solid state ablation crater. It’s interesting that new ripples appear and gradually become deep and clear after hundreds of picoseconds. A part of these ripples remain after the ablation crater is solidified. The period of the remained ripples is measured and approximately equal to the periods of the two transient ripples. The thin surface plasma model with multi-layer is introduced to study the formation of periodic ripples. The dynamics of the carrier excitation, carrier and lattice temperature, transient dielectric constant, and other factors are obtained by the two-temperature model and the Drude model. The results show that the periods of electric field distributions at different depths of the plasma layer are the same. The formation of the two transient ripples and the remained ripples are all related to the periodic energy deposition due to the SPP excitation at the air-plasma interface.