Second-order two-temperature model of heat transfer processes in a thin metal film subjected to an ultrashort laser pulse

Abstract

Thermal processes in domain of thin metal film subjected to an ultrashort laser pulse are considered. A mathematical description of the process discussed is based on the system of four equations. Two of them describe the electrons and lattice temperature, while third and fourth equations represent the generalized Fourier law, it means the dependencies between the electrons (lattice) heat flux and the electrons (lattice) temperature gradient. In the generalized Fourier law the heat fluxes are delayed in relation to the temperature gradients which consequently causes the appearance of heat fluxes time derivatives in the appropriate equations. Depending on the order of the generalized Fourier law expansion into the Taylor series, the first- and the second-order model can be obtained. In contrast to the commonly used first-order model, here the second-order two-temperature model is proposed. The problem is solved using the implicit scheme of the finite difference method. The examples of computations are also presented. It turns out that for the low laser intensities the results obtained using the first- and the second-order models are very similar.