Synthesis of colloidal aluminum nanoparticles by nanosecond pulsed laser and the effect of external electric field and laser fluence on ablation rate

In this paper, the ablation of aluminum was induced by a Q-switched Nd:YAG laser (1064 nm, similar to 10 ns and 10 Hz) in ethanol at room temperature for producing colloidal nanoparticles. Two different experimental schemes (i.e. the electric field parallel, and perpendicular to the laser propagation path) were used to investigate the dependence of ablation rate on the external electric field characteristics and the laser fluence. The results show that at a constant laser fluence, regardless of the type of scheme, the ablation rate is increased in the presence of electric field. However, the characteristics of craters strongly depend on the direction of the electric field. The results also show that at both schemes with a constant electric field, the ablation rate rises when the laser fluence is increased. According to the results, it can be concluded that the ablation rate enhanced by applying electric field and increasing laser pulse energy.