Determination of the species generated in atmospheric-pressure laser-induced plasmas by mass spectrometry techniques

TL;DR

This paper investigates the chemical composition and evolution of atmospheric-pressure laser-induced plasmas using mass spectrometry and simulations, revealing insights into plasma dynamics and molecular processes.

Contribution

It introduces a novel experimental setup for analyzing plasma evolution and chemistry, supported by PIC simulations, providing new understanding of filamentation plasmas.

Findings

Detailed temporal evolution of plasma species

Insights into molecular formation and fragmentation

Correlation between experimental data and simulations

Abstract

We present temporal information obtained by mass spectrometry techniques about the evolution of plasmas generated by laser filamentation in air. The experimental setup used in this work allowed us to study not only the dynamics of the filament core but also of the energy reservoir that surrounds it. Furthermore, valuable insights about the chemistry of such systems like the photofragmentation and/or formation of molecules were obtained. The interpretation of the experimental results are supported by PIC (particle in cell) simulations.