Experimental study of wavelength dependences of laser-plasma coupling, transport, and ablation processes

Experimental studies of the wavelength dependence of the following laser-plasma coupling processes were performed: (1) laser-light absorption, (2) energy transport, and (3) ablation and target-acceleration behavior. At a fixed intensity around 10/sup 14/ W/cm/sup 2/, the ablation process was dominated by heat transport by cold electrons for 0.53- and 1.06-..mu..m lasers and by hot electrons for a 10.6-..mu..m laser.