Optical emission spectroscopy of laser-produced carbon plasma at moderate and low irradiance in an ambient atmosphere

Abstract

The plasma produced during pulsed-laser deposition of thin carbon films is studied in the presence of ambient gases (Air, He, Ar) at low and moderate irradiances of Nd:YAG laser. The presence of ambient gas shows a pronounced effect on the dynamics of the plasma plume. At moderate intensity, we report an appearance of a peculiar double-peak structure in the temporal profile of the C II transition in laser-produced carbon plasma as it expands into a background gas. We believe that the structure originates mainly due to stratification of the plasma into fast and slow ion components at the interface where Rayleigh-Taylor instability occurs. Thin carbon films deposited on silicon in the presence of argon gas have shown the characteristic features of diamond-like carbon in X-ray diffraction and Raman Spectroscopy. The X-ray diffraction pattern of carbon film deposited at 1 torr of argon gas pressure shows the dominance of (111), (220), (311), and (400) crystalline plane of cubic diamond.