Numerical modeling of plasma formation in skin tissues induced by nanosecond pulsed laser

A numerical analysis is performed to investigate the comparative contribution of the mechanisms responsible for electron gain and losses in laser-induced breakdown of the skin tissues. In this regard, we adopted a simple theoretical formulation relying on the numerical solution of a rate equation that describes the growth of the electron density due to the joined effect of multiphoton, cascade and chromophore ionization processes. Here, the rate also includes the effect of electron loss due to diffusion and recombination processes. The analysis considered skin tissue irradiated by a Nd:YAG laser radiation in the 200–550 nm wavelength range with 6 ns pulse duration full-width half-maximum (FWHM). Graphic abstract