Spatial characterization of laser-induced plasmas:: distributions of neutral atom and ion densities

Spatial distributions of temperature and relative number densities of Fe neutral atoms and ions in a laser-induced plasma have been measured by time- and space-resolved emission spectroscopy. The deconvolution of the intensity spectra has been carried out to obtain the local emissivity of neutral atom and ion lines as a function of the axial (z) and radial (r) coordinates. The plasma was generated with a Fe-Ni-Al alloy in air at atmospheric pressure using a Nd:YAG laser. The distributions present a dark region with negligible neutral atom and ion emissivities and densities, situated close to the sample surface at axial distances zless than or equal to1 mm. In the emitting region, the temperature has its maximum at the plasma axis (16000 K) and shows a monotonous decrease towards the border (6000 K). The neutral atoms and ions occupy regions corresponding to a great extent to different radial positions. At an axial distance z=1.8 mm, at which the maximum emissivities are produced, the maximum of the ion density is at rcongruent to0.6 mm, whereas the neutral atom density maximum is at rcongruent to1.3 mm.