A comparative study on reflection of nanosecond Nd-YAG laser pulses in ablation of aluminum in air and in vacuum under the same other experimental conditions is performed. We find that, hemispherical total reflectivity of aluminum undergoes a sharp drop at the plasma formation threshold both in the air and in vacuum. The initial large value (0.8) of aluminum reflectivity decreases to a level of about 0.14 and 0.24 for ablation in the air and in vacuum, respectively. These decreased reflectivity values remain virtually unchanged with further increasing laser fluence. The reflectivity drop in the air is observed to be sharper than in vacuum. Our study indicates that the reflectivity drop is predominantly caused by absorption of the laser light in plasma. Nano/micro-structural defects present on practical sample surfaces play the important role in the plasma formation, especially for the ablation in the air, where the plasma formation threshold is found to be by a factor of 3 smaller than in vacuum.

Hemispherical total reflectivity of copper, nickel, and tungsten in ablation by nanosecond Nd:YAG laser pulses in air of atmospheric pressure is experimentally studied as a function of laser fluence in the range of 0.1–100 J/cm². Our experiment shows that at laser fluences below the plasma formation threshold the reflectivity of mechanically polished metals remains virtually equal to the table room-temperature reflectivity values. The hemispherical total reflectivity of the studied metals begins to drop at a laser fluence of the plasma formation threshold. With increasing laser fluence above the plasma formation threshold the reflectivity sharply decreases to a low value and then remains unchanged with further increasing laser fluence. Computation of the surface temperature at the plasma formation threshold fluence reveals that its value is substantially below the melting point that indicates an important role of the surface nanostructural defects in the plasma formation on a real sample due to their enhanced heating caused by both plasmonic absorption and plasmonic nanofocusing.

Reflection of nanosecond laser pulses with different wavelengths (1.06 and 0.69 µ m) in ablation of titanium in air is studied experimentally. The laser wavelength effect on reflection is essential at low laser fluence values. However, it becomes negligible for laser fluence values by about an order of magnitude higher than the plasma ignition threshold. We speculate that the disappearance of the wavelength effect is explained by counter-acting processes of the laser light absorption in plasma, which increases with laser wavelength, and absorption in the surface layer, which decreases with increasing laser wavelength.

We investigate the nonlinear refraction and absorption related to holographic writing in rubidium vapor at resonance with ${}^{87}\mathrm{Rb}$ D2 transition. The numerical model based on time-dependent density matrix formalism is used. The theory adequately describes nonlinear optical rotation and absorption at light intensities in the $0.1–30\mathrm{mW}∕{\mathrm{cm}}^2$ range. The basic configurations for obtaining amplitude and phase gratings for nearly equal frequencies of writing beams are investigated experimentally, and the writing time is estimated.