PLASMA PRODUCTION VIA LASER-INDUCED PHOTOEMISSION

The feasibility of laser-induced photoemission as a driving mechanism for short plasma pulse production is currently being investigated with a pulsed excimer laser at 248 nm. Low work function materials such as LaB6 and barium are used as cathode materials and the resulting plasm a characteristics are being examined. Results from early measurements of the barium photocathode show a strong dependence of the photoemitte d current on the source pressure and cathode voltage. Additionally, th e temporal behavior of the emitted electron pulse is found to consist of two components: a short 50 ns burst corresponding to laser-induced photoemission, and a larger, longer 100 ns pulse increasing from the t ail end of the photoemitted electron pulse. (C) 1996 American Institut e of Physics.