Nonstationary heating during VUV photochemical ablation of polymers

According to a previously developed pure photochemical model of VUV laser ablation of polymers, the velocity of ablation front is proportional to surface intensity, and a stationary value of the surface temperature does not depend on laser intensity. Previous estimations show, however, that this stationary surface temperature could be too high to be relevant to the photochemical mechanism. This raises a question of whether the stationary value of the surface temperature can be achieved for a given time shape of light intensity coming to the surface irradiated by a laser pulse of high enough fluence. The intensity time shape is connected not only with the time shape of a laser pulse but also with screening of laser radiation by the plume. This problem is discussed in the present communication. Specifically, it is shown that with a hyperbolic surface intensity time shape, heat diffusion can successfully compete with laser heating decreasing maximum surface temperature compared to its stationary value. The hyperbolic surface laser intensity corresponds to a rectangular laser pulse screened by plume during the photochemical ablation. This allows one to estimate that the photochemical model for a multiple-pulse VUV laser ablation with a high plume extinction coefficient is self-consistent even for a high value of stationary temperature and for high enough laser fluences.