Influence of an electric field on near-surface processes in laser processing of metals

It is shown that by varying the external electric field with different polarity from 0 to 10(6) V m(-1) in the course of laser processing with the mean radiation flux density similar to 10(6) W cm(-2) the change in the evolution features of the plasma torch at the surface of some metals (Cu, Al, Sn, Pb) at early stages is quantitative rather than qualitative. At the same time the characteristic size of the target material droplets, carried out from the irradiated zone, becomes essentially (by several times) smaller as the amplitude of the external electric field strength grows, independently of its polarity.