Possible evidence of Coulomb explosion in the femtosecond laser ablation of metal at low laser fluence

•Theoretically investigate the thermal and electronic processes of metal irradiated by femtosecond laser.•Confirm the Coulomb explosion process can occur in laser ablation of metal.•Supplement the causes of the formation of laser ablation at low laser fluence. We use a computational model to study the ablation mechanism of metal target irradiated by femtosecond pulse laser. It is confirmed that the Coulomb explosion can occur during femtosecond laser ablation of metal. The influence of thermal ablation and Coulomb explosion on the ablation depth is respectively investigated. Comparing the calculated results with the experimental ones, we find that the theoretical results which consider the thermal ablation only agree well with the experimental ones at high laser fluence, and those which take the Coulomb explosion into account fit well with the experimental ones at lower laser fluence, which exactly explains the ablation mechanism. In contrast with the previous theoretical results which only consider the thermal ablation, our theoretical simulation describes the ablation mechanism straightforward by making comparison of ablation depth, and provides a more reasonable explanation that fits with the actual ablation process.