Neutral and Ionic Emission in Q-Switched Nd:YAG Laser-Induced Shock Wave Plasma

Excitation mechanisms for copper and zinc atoms as well as their ionic species in the Q-switched (Q-sw) Nd:YAG laser-induced shock wave plasma have been investigated with a time-gated optical multichannel analyzer (OMA) system for various experimental conditions. It is demonstrated that the shock excitation process is the main mechanism responsible for the emission spectra for laser energy ranging from 8 to 86 mJ and surrounding air pressure from 2 to 50 Torr. At air pressure below 2 Torr, collision-induced excitation appears to take over and becomes the operative mechanism. In all cases, the neutral emission dominates over the ionic emission, leading to a high signal-to-background ratio, which tends to decrease, however, at higher laser energy and air pressure.