Abstract

Pulsed Laser Ablation in Liquid (PLAL) is a flexible technique for synthesis of nanoparticles of various materials, in particular of noble metals [1]. Despite of the widespread use of this method, processes involved in PLAL are still poorly understood. The presence of the liquid makes the PLAL process much more complicated as compared to conventional ablation in vacuum or in an ambient gas. The poor current knowledge of the PLAL process can be illustrated by the example of the laser-induced damage thresholds (DTs) in liquid. The available data on the DTs under PLAL are rather contradictory and provide threshold laser fluences higher [2,3], equal to [4], and lower [5] than the corresponding values in air. Various mechanisms are invoked to explain the differences. Thus, higher DTs under PLAL, observed in most experiments, are explained by conductive heat transfer to the liquid [3] or by vapor pressure and confinement effects [2] while an increase of the surface absorptivity in liquid or enhanced shockwave recoil pressure are assumed to be responsible for lower thresholds [5].

© 2017 IEEE