Time-of-flight distribution analysis of laser ablation plasmas of Aluminum targets.

In this work we report on a study of the plasma produced in laser ablation of Aluminum targets by visible (532 nm) and UV (355 nm) radiation. In particular, we have obtained ion energy distributions through time-of-night measurements in the laser ablation plasma at different laser fluences (3-60 Jcm(-2)). The experimental TOF distributions of ions were fitted quite well by theoretical Maxwell-Boltzmann distributions superimposed onto a common centre-of-mass flow velocity. By these fits ion plasma temperature and flow velocity were inferred. We also studied the ion yield at different laser fluences, observing a saturation behaviour above a specific incident laser fluence.