Ablation and ultrafast dynamics of zinc selenide under femtosecond laser irradiation

The ablation in zinc selenide (ZnSe) crystal is studied by using 150-fs, 800-nm laser system. The imagesof the ablation pit measured by scanning electronic microscope (SEM) show no thermal stress and meltingdynamics. The threshold fluence is measured to be 0.7 J/cm2. The ultrafast ablation dynamics is studiedby using pump and probe method. The result suggests that optical breakdown and ultrafast melting takeplace in ZnSe irradiated under femtosecond laser pulses.