STUDIES OF PLASMA AND CRATERS PRODUCED BY THE INTERACTION OF HIGH-ENERGY SUB-NANOSECOND LASER WITH SILVER TARGET

Eugeniusz Woryna1, Jan Badziak1, Piotr Parys1, Romana Suchañska1, Jerzy Wo³owski1, Josef Krása2, Leoš Láska2, Miroslav Pfeifer2, Karel Rohlena2, Jiri Ullschmied2

1Institute of Plasma Physics and Laser Microfusion, 23 Hery Str., 00-908 Warsaw, P.O. Box 49, Poland,
2Institute of Physics, Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic, 2 Na Slovance Str., 180 40 Prague 8, Czech Republic

The results of measurements of microablation from a silver target irradiated by the high-power PALS laser system in Prague are presented. In this experiment the laser beam of energy of about 110 J in a 400 ps pulse was focused perpendicularly to the massive silver target. The target surface position was changed with respect to the focal spot of the laser beam in the range from -2.5 to 2.5 mm. A set of four ion collectors was used for plasma ion emission measurements. The effect of the laser pulse interaction with the target, i.e. craters and damages formed in the vicinity of the craters, were investigated with the use of scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and optical microscopy methods. The characteristics of the crater were compared with the essential parameters of ion streams emitted from the plasma produced in the same laser shot.