Experimental investigation on colloidal alumina nanoparticles produced by collinear nanosecond double-pulse laser ablation in liquid

In this research, we investigated the effect of inter-pulse delay times on production of colloidal alumina nanoparticles by collinear double pulse laser ablation. In comparison to single pulse laser ablation, collinear double pulse laser ablation with inter-pulse delay times of 5, 10, 15 and 20 ns results in production of colloidal nanoparticles with smaller mean size and lower variance size distribution. In the case of 5 ns inter-pulse delay time, the highest concentration of nanoparticles was obtained due to more rapid cooling time of the plasma as a result of higher rate of nuclei generation than particle growth. The results also showed that the main pulse and the pre-pulse with 5 ns delay time have significant overlap and consequently such condition leads to maximum influence on the ablation.