High-intensity laser-matter coupling in a vacuum

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Abstract
A simple analytic model is developed for the steady‐state ablation of a surface irradiated by an intense laser in a vacuum. The model accounts for the absorption of laser light in the plasma plume over the surface, as well as the reradiation of a specified fraction of the energy absorbed to the surface, where it augments the ablation rate. We find qualitative differences in the scaling of thermal and mechanical coupling to the surface with laser intensity depending on whether or not the coupling from the plasma is significant, and compare these predicted scalings with experimental data for evidence of plasma‐enhanced coupling in vacuum. We conclude that in many cases there is no such enhanced coupling and provide simple physical arguments for why this is so.