An investigation of electron and ion populations within low temperature laser produced titanium plasma plumes \

Abstract EN

The fluxes of ions and free electrons within a plasma plume resulting from the laser ablation of a titanium target have been experimentally determined.

The target was ablated with a KrF laser at moderate irradiances (< 3 (108 W / cm2), in vacuum.

Ion and electron fluxes were determined, at a distance 5 cm normal to the target surface, using absorption spectroscopy, laser induced fluorescence and Langmuir probe techniques.

Temporally integrated ion and electron fluxes were found to be similar in magnitude, and to scale linearly with irradiance above a threshold level, consistent with theoretical predictions.