Abstract

The violet interaction of a powerful pulsed laser with a solid surface which is so called laser ablation results a rapid and directional vaporization of the solid material. This kind of vaporization has found valuable application for thin film deposition and microelectronics fabrication processes, and proved a powerful tool for providing atomic or cluster for analytical purpose. The study of the propagation of the laser generated plume (vaporized material) in gas ambient aims at understanding the basic mechanism of this process and taking control of the plume for practical use. Time-resolved beam deflection technique offers one of the means for this effort.

© 1994 Optical Society of America