No CrossRef data available.
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 15 February 2011
The changes in reflectivity of a silicon surface, irradiated by a green picosecond pulse, are probed during and following that pulse with a spatial resolution of 10μm. The data indicate the development of a liquid phase, and a resolidification either into a single crystal or an amorphous phase. The latter has a characteristic ring-type pattern, and occurs only at locations where the incident picosecond laser fluence lies between 0.2 and 0.26 J/cm2. The reflectivity data appear to be in good quantitative agreement with a “simple heating” model, in which the electrons and phonons maintain a local thermodynamic equilibrium on a picosecond time scale.