Laser cleaning of oxide iron layer: Efficiency enhancement due to electrochemical induced absorptivity change

Laser cleaning experiments exhibited a higher cleaning efficiency of the la ser cleaning upon application of electrochemical potential on an oxidised i ron surface. The objective of this study is to clarify the role of such an electrochemical control on cleaning efficiency. Therefore a study by optica l spectrometry at normal incidence in the relevant conditions was performed . From these measurements the optical parameters n and k were deduced. Whil e n is mainly not affected, k changes for a factor of 10 upon application o f an electrochemical potential. These results explain the differences in la ser cleaning efficiency due to the modified absorption length.