Characterization of laser-ablation plasmas

We discuss the generation of high-density and high-temperature plasmas by f ocusing high peak power laser radiation onto a solid target. Emphasis will be put on the process of laser ablation and on its basic, physical mechanis ms. A survey will be given of the main experimental techniques, namely opti cal emission and absorption spectroscopy, mass spectrometry, time-of-flight and charge collection measurements, devised to characterize laser-produced plasmas. The fundamental theoretical and numerical approaches developed to analyse laser-target interaction, plasma formation, as well as its expansi on will also be reviewed, and their predictions compared with the experimen tal findings. Although the main emphasis of the review will be on metal tar get ablation, reference and comparison to results on multicomponent targets will also be frequently given.