Preliminary Studies of the Characteristics and Factors Influencing the Emission from a Copper Vapor Laser-Induced Plasma

Abstract

The interaction between a laser beam from a high-repetition-rate copper vapor laser (CVL) and a metal target was studied. The influence of several buffer gases and their pressure on the generation of the plasma was evaluated, and the importance of the presence of air on the process of the plasma formation was observed. Diagnostics of the plasma were made. Several parameters were optimized in order to maximize the emission intensity of the 327.75 nm line of the copper target. Temporal studies were performed in order to observe the evolution of the signal-to-background ratio.