RECENT ADVANCES IN PULSED LASER ABLATED PLASMA PLUMES: A REVIEW

Abstract

Pulsed laser ablation is a process in which an intense laser pulse interacts with the matter producing plasma. The present work describes the theoretical work being conducted in the past for the pulsed laser ablation phenomenon. It incorporates the theoretical models being proposed by various researchers around the globe for pulsed laser ablation. The main processes involved in the laser–matter interaction leading to plasma plume formation are the absorption and the reflection of the incident laser light by the condensed phase, ablation of the condensed phase, absorption of the laser light within the expanding plume, expansion of the vapor-plasma plume, and in the case of pulsed laser desorption, the interaction of the ablated species with the substrate surface. Thus the plasma, produced in the laser–matter interaction, plays an important role in the pulsed laser ablation (PLA) process.