Ion acceleration by cw CO2 laser irradiation in the erosion plume after ablation with excimer laser

Abstract

The erosion plume resulting from an ablation of tantalum target in vacuum with excimer laser radiation (308 nm) was studied using Langmuir probe. The spatial and temporal dependencies of electron probe currents were obtained in real time. The electron temperature of different plume regions was determined from a series of I-U characteristics taken at different distances between probe and target. It was established that the plume electron temperature is nonuniform and has a maximum value in front of the plume. The acceleration of ions on plume irradiation with CW CO2 laser recorded. The increase in ions energy from 25 to 50 eV was observed.