Av. Bulgakov et Nm. Bulgakova, GAS-DYNAMIC EFFECTS OF THE INTERACTION BETWEEN A PULSED LASER-ABLATION PLUME AND THE AMBIENT GAS - ANALOGY WITH AN UNDEREXPANDED JET, Journal of physics. D, Applied physics, 31(6), 1998, pp. 693-703
The expansion of a laser-ablation plume into different ambient gases i
s investigated theoretically using a two-fluid gas-dynamic model and e
xperimentally with time-of-flight mass spectrometry. Both calculations
and measurements, performed for laser ablation of YBa2Cu3O7-x in oxyg
en or noble gases, reveal an oscillatory behaviour of plume expansion
dynamics which is strongly dependent on the molecular weight of the am
bient gas. Simple gas-dynamic considerations based on the analogy betw
een an ablation plume and a supersonic underexpanded gaseous jet are f
ound to explain a number of the effects of the interaction between the
plume and the background gas. The effect of plume focusing observed p
reviously at fairly high pressures of various ambient gases is reasona
bly described using the phenomenology of the underexpanded jet. The an
alogy also predicts vortex formation at the plume periphery.