Planar Laser Induced Fluorescence Mapping of a Carbon Laser Produced Plasma

TL;DR

This study uses laser induced fluorescence to map the ion velocity distribution in a carbon plasma produced by a laser, providing high-resolution, spatio-temporal data on plasma dynamics with efficient data collection.

Contribution

It introduces a high-repetition-rate LIF method for detailed, high-resolution mapping of ion velocities in laser-produced plasmas, exploring saturation effects.

Findings

High spatial resolution of ion velocity profiles achieved.

Effective mapping of plasma evolution over time.

Insights into fluorescence saturation effects.

Abstract

We present measurements of ion velocity distribution profiles obtained by laser induced fluorescence (LIF) on an explosive laser produced plasma (LPP). The spatio-temporal evolution of the resulting carbon ion velocity distribution was mapped by scanning through the Doppler-shifted absorption wavelengths using a tunable, diode-pumped laser. The acquisition of this data was facilitated by the high repetition rate capability of the ablation laser (1 Hz) which allowed the accumulation of thousand of laser shots in short experimental times. By varying the intensity of the LIF beam, we were able to explore the effects of fluorescence power against laser irradiance in the context of evaluating the saturation versus the non-saturation regime. The small beam size of the LIF beam led to high spatial resolution of the measurement compared to other ion velocity distribution measurement techniques, while the fast-gated operation mode of the camera detector enabled the measurement of the relevant electron transitions.