Quantitative studies of copper plasma using laser induced breakdown spectroscopy

In the present work, we present the spatial evolution of the copper plasma produced by the fundamental harmonic (1064 nm) and second harmonic (532 nm) of a Q-switched Nd:YAG laser. The experimentally observed line profiles of neutral copper have been used to extract the electron temperature using the Boltzmann plot method, whereas, the electron number density has been determined from the Stark broadening. Besides we have studied the variation of electron temperature and electron number density as a function of laser energy at atmospheric pressure. The Cu I lines at 333.78, 406.26, 465.11 and 515.32 nm are used for the determination of electron temperature. The relative uncertainty in the determination of electron temperature is approximate to 10%. The electron temperature calculated for the fundamental harmonic (1064 nm) of Nd:YAG laser is 10500-15600 K, and that for the second harmonic (532 nm) of Nd:YAG laser is 11500-14700 K at a Q Switch delay of 40 mu s. The electron temperature has also been calculated as a function of laser energy from the target surface for both modes of the laser. We have also studied the spatial behavior of the electron number density in the plume. The electron number densities close to the target surface (0.05 mm), in the case of fundamental harmonic (1064 nm) of Nd:YAG laser having pulse energy 135 rill and second harmonic (532 nm) of Nd:YAG laser with pulse energy 80 mJ are 2.50 x 10(6) and 2.60 x 10(16) cm(-3), respectively. (C) 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.