Nature of ‘‘incubation pulses’’ in the ultraviolet laser ablation of polymethyl methacrylate

The term ‘‘incubation pulses’’ is applied to the pulses of ultraviolet laser radiation which are directed initially at a polymer surface and which etch less depth per pulse than subsequent pulses which remove identical depths of material at each pulse. This incubation effect which is particularly strong when the polymer absorbs moderately at the laser wavelength has been studied in polymethyl methacrylate at 193 and 248 nm. The transformation of the surface during incubation pulses has been followed by 1) photographing the blast wave that is produced by the products that emerge from the surface, using a fast (