Spot-size dependence of the ablation threshold in dielectrics for femtosecond laser pulses

The multi-pulse ablation threshold of barium borosilicate glass was measured using 30-fs pulses of a high repetition rate (1 kHz) laser system. The threshold fluence was found to decrease with increasing beam radius ranging from 20 to 400 μm. Two existing models are applied by considering thermal accumulation and point defects, respectively .