Long duration light emission from femtosecond laser–target interactions

Time resolved emission from the interaction of ultra-short (∼200 fs) laser pulses with aluminum and copper targets was investigated. Measurements show that emission from the laser produced plasma in air is significantly more intense than in near vacuum conditions and that the emission in air can extend for periods exceeding 100 ns. Modeling the laser–target–air coupling shows that the laser–target interaction can lead to blast wave shock waves being launched in the ambient air and that the emission from the shocked air dominates over emission from the target surface. The long term emission measurements in air are in agreement with the modeling results.