Abstract

The net absorption for a 100 femtosecond, 400 nm laser pulse's interaction with a wide range of solid density target materials is determined by measuring the total reflected and scattered light signals from the target. Absorption is determined over the intensity range of 10¹³ to 10¹⁸ W/cm², a range is sufficiently broad to observe the transition in absorption from a low intensity region dominated by the cold material's electronic band structure, to an absorption at the highest intensities marked by a convergence to a nearly universal, material independent value.

© 1994 Optical Society of America