Numerical simulation of laser-induced plasma in background gas considering multiple interaction processes

Abstract

Abstract Laser-induced plasma is often produced in the presence of background gas, which causes some new physical processes. In this work, a two-dimensional axisymmetric radiation fluid dynamics model is used to numerically simulate the expansion process of plasma under different pressures and gases, in which the multiple interaction processes of diffusion, viscosity and heat conduction between the laser ablated target vapor and the background gas are further considered, and the spatio-temporal evolutions of plasma parameters (species number density, expansion velocity, size and electron temperature) as well as the emission spectra are obtained. The consistency between the actual and simulated spectra of aluminum plasma in 1 atm argon verifies the correctness of the model and the numerical simulation, thus providing a refinement analysis method for the basic research of plasma expansion in gases and the application of laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy.