Momentum transfer and plasma formation above a target surface with a high-power YAG laser

Production of surface pressure, plasma formation and momentum transfer of target is analyzed in interaction between laser and target material in this paper, a low-energy and high-power 1.06 micrometers YAG laser with a pulse width of 15 ns is applied to act upon different target material surfaces, and by using a pendulum shift technique to measure displacement of the target surface, momentum transfer and momentum coupling coefficient are obtained at different conditions.© (1993) COPYRIGHT SPIE--The International Society for Optical Engineering. Downloading of the abstract is permitted for personal use only.