Non-thermal ablation of airborne Al2O3 particles by a nanosecond pulsed laser at 532 nm
摘要
The emission spectra from the ablation of airborne alumina nanoparticles by a 532 nm nanosecond pulsed laser are investigated to clarify the underlying mechanism and the applicability of different laser diagnostic techniques such as the laser-induced incandescence (LII) and the laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy (LIBS). The particles were observed to be completely ablated above the laser fluence of 6 J/cm2, along with the collection of Al atomic spectra at 394.39 nm and 396.16 nm. The Al spectra show no delay to the laser pulse and decays with a time scale of around 20 ns. A non-thermal ablation mechanism is thus proposed to interpret the Al spectra that the excited Al atoms are produced by electron induced ablation (i.e. Path One) and by recombination of free electrons and ions (i.e. Path Two). The proposed mechanism further implies that the maximum temperature of alumina particles achievable through laser illumination cannot reach its boiling point when a nanosecond pulsed laser is applied and the particle starts to be ablated at a relatively low particle temperature, restricting the applicability of LII for in-situ alumina particle detection.