COMPOSITION AND DYNAMICS OF AN EROSION PLASMA PRODUCED BY MICRO-SECOND LASER-PULSES

The ion and energy compositions were determined and the dynamics was studied of an erosion jet formed by microsecond CO2 laser pulses incident on a graphite target. The ionic emission lines were used to find the electron density and temperature of the plasma on the target surface. The temperature of the plasma source did not change throughout the lime emission time (4 mu s). At the plasma recombination stage the liens of the C II, C III, and C IV ions were accompanied by bands of the C-2 molecule near the target surface and also near the surface of an obstacle when a plasma flux interacted with it. Ways were found for controlling the jet expansion anisotropy and for producing plasma fluxes with controlled parameters by selection of the conditions during formation of a quasi-steady erosion plasma flux.