Plastic Deformation of Copper under the Action of High-Power Nanosecond UV Laser Pulse

Modification of a polished surface of oxygen-free copper under the action of single pulse of focused high-power UV radiation of an Nd:YAG laser has been studied. It is established, that at a subthreshold energy density ( E ∼ 0.6 J/cm 2 ) the metal surface in the irradiated region exhibited irreversible uplift in the absence of significant traces of material ablation. With an increase in the laser energy density, the ablation process develops that leads to leveling of the surface uplift phenomenon.