Transient scattering effects and electron plasma dynamics during ultrafast laser ablation of water

We study the dynamics of single-shot ultrafast laser ablation of a water–gas interface. We model the extremely nonlinear light–water interaction during the first picosecond by simulating the laser pulse propagation while dynamically calculating the spatial distribution of the dielectric function. We make use of a finite-difference time-domain algorithm to solve Maxwell’s equations and Rethfeld’s multiple rate equation model to consider the local excitation of a dense electron plasma. We validate our model by comparing the simulated transient reflectivity with experimental results and find excellent agreement.