Abstract
A pulse Nd: YAG laser with pulse duration 5–10 ns, beam radius at focal point 0.2–0.4 mm, wavelengths 1064 nm, 532 nm and 238 nm with linearly polarized radiation and Gaussian beam profile, was impacted on a thin foil of titanium metal for generating plasma plume. Numerically, the above parameters were linked with average kinetic energy of the electrons and ions in the laser-induced plasma. In the present model, electrons having higher velocities are assumed to escape from plasma, that forms a negatively charged sheath around the plasma. It is seen from present computations that the forward directed nature of the laser evaporation process results from the anisotropic expansion velocities associated with different species. These velocities are mainly controlled by the initial dimension of the expanding plasma. An attempt was undertaken to estimate the length of the plume at different ambient gas pressures using an adiabatic expansion model. The rate of the plasma expansion for various Ar+ ion energies was derived from numerical calculations. A numerical definition of this plasma includes events like collisional/radiative, excitation/de-excitation and ionization/recombination processes involving multiples of energy levels with several ionization stages. Finally, based on a kinetic model, the plasma expansion rate across the laser beam axis was investigated.
Article PDF
Similar content being viewed by others
Avoid common mistakes on your manuscript.
References
Anisimov S I, Kapeliovich B L, Perelman T L 1974 Electron emission from metal surfaces exposed to ultrashort laser pulses. Sov. Phys. JETP 39: 375–377
Anisimov S I, Lukyanchuk B S 2002 Selected problems of laser ablation theory. Phys. Uspekhi 45: 293–324
Belotserkovsky OM, Davidov Yu M 1982 Method of large particles in gas dynamics, Nauka, Moscow (in Russ.)
Capitelli M, Casavola A, Colonna G, Giacomo DeA2004 Laser-induced plasma expansion: theoretical and experimental aspects. Spectrochim. Acta Part B 59: 271–289
Casavola A, Colonna G, Capitelli M 2003 Non-equilibrium conditions during a laser-induced plasma expansion. Appl. Surf. Science 208: 85–89
Colonna G, Casavola A, Capitelli M 2001 Modeling of LIBS plasma expansion. Spectrochim. Acta Part B 56: 567–586
Drogoff Le B, Margot J, Vidal F, Laville S, Chaker M, Sabsabi M, Johnston T W, Barthelemy O 2004 Influence of the laser pulse duration on laser-produced plasma properties. Plasma Sources Sci. Technol. 13: 223–230
Furusawa H, Sakka T, Ogata Y H 2004 Characterization of ablated species in laser-induced plasma plume. J. Appl. Phys. 96: 975–982
Giacomo De A, Shakhatov V A, Pascale De O 2001 Optical emission spectroscopy and modeling of plasma produced by laser ablation of titanium oxides. Spectrochim. Acta Part B 56: 753–776
Gornushkin I B, Stevenson C L, Smith B W, Omenetto N, Winefordner J D 2001 Modeling an inhomogeneous optically thick laser-induced plasma: a simplified theoretical approach. Spectrochim. Acta Part B 56: 1769–1785
Ho J R, Grigoropoulos C P, Humphrey J A C 1996 Gas dynamics and radiation heat transfer in the vapor plume produced by pulsed laser irradiation of aluminum. J. Appl. Phys. 79: 7205–7215
Itina T E, Hermann J, Delaporte P, Sentis M 2003 Combined continuous microscopic modelling of laser plume expansion. Appl. Surf. Science 208: 27–32
Knight C J 1979 Theoretical modelling of rapid surface vaporization with back-pressure. AIAA Journal 17: 82–86
Kumar N 2001 Laser-induced plasma temperature. Proc. RAS 13: 3–18
Mao S S, Mao X, Grief R, Russo R E 2000 Initiation of early-stage plasma during picosecond laser ablation of solids. Appl. Phys. Lett. 77: 2464–2466
Mazhukin V I, Nossov V V, Flamant G, Smirnov I 2002 Modelling of radiation transfer and emission spectra in laser-induced plasma of Al vapor. J. Quant. Spectrosc. Radiat. Transfer 73: 451–460
Noll R, Sattmann R, Sturm V, Winkelmann S 2004 Space- and time-resolved dynamics of plasmas generated by laser double pulses interacting with metallic samples. J. Anal. At. Spectrometry 19: 419–428
Rethfeld B, Sokolwski-Tinten K, von der Linde D, Anisimov S I 2004 Timescales in the response of materials to femtosecond laser excitation. Appl. Phys. A 79: 767–769
Russo R E 1995 Laser ablation. Appl. Spectroscopy 49: 14A–28A
Samarsky A A, Popov Yu M 1975 Difference schemes of gas dynamics, Nauka, Moscow (in Russ.)
Singh R K, Holland O W, Narayan J 1990 Theoretical model for deposition of superconducting thin films using pulsed laser evaporation technique. J. Appl. Phys. 68: 233–247
Stapleton M W, Mosnier J P 2002 A computational model for selected emission transitions in a laser produced lithium ablation plume. Appl. Surf. Science 197: 72–76
Stoian R, Ashkenasi D, Rosenfeld A, Campbell EEB 2000 Coulomb explosion in ultrashort pulsed laser ablation of Al2O3. Phys. Rev. B 62: 13167–13173
Stuart B C, Feit M D, Herman F, Rubenchik A M, Shore B W, Perry M D 1996 Nanosecond-tofemtosecond laser-induced breakdown in dielectrics. Phys. Rev. B 53: 1749–1761
Tonshoff H K, Momma C, Ostendorf A, Nolte S, Kamlage G 2000 Micro-drilling of metals with ultrashort laser pulses. J. Laser Application 12: 23–27
Vorobev V S 1993 Plasma arising during the interaction of laser radiation with solids. Phys. Uspekhi 36: 1129–1157
Zeldovich Ya B, Raizer Yu P 1967 Physics of shock waves and high temperature hydrodynamics phenomena (New York: Academic Press) 129–132
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Kumar, N., Dash, S., Tyagi, A.K. et al. Dynamics of plasma expansion in the pulsed laser material interaction. Sadhana 35, 493–511 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12046-010-0032-y
Received:
Revised:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12046-010-0032-y