Angular distribution of ions emitted from Nd:YAG laser-produced plasma

Angular distribution of ion currents emitted from laser-produced plasmas are reported for a Nd:YAG laser with intensities lower than 1 x 10(10) W/cm(2). This distributions are strongly peaked along the normal to the target surface for Cu, Sn, Ta, W, Au, and Pb ion streams, independent of the incidence angle of the irradiated target. For Al, Ni, and Nb the main axis tends to decline to about -10degrees. The comparison of fits of Gaussian function and cos(P)(alpha-alpha(o))+y(o) to the experimental data verified the formal equivalency of both the functions. Fitted values of the FWHM and of the exponent P are compared for all the elements used. The angular distribution of mean ion velocity (v) and ion kinetic energy (E) are presented. (C) 2002 American Institute of Physics.