Luminescence of metals excited by fast nondestructive loading

The paper reports a study of the luminescence excited on the back side of metal targets irradiated with laser pulses of energy substantially below the plasma-flare formation threshold, and calculation of the temporal and spatial distributions of temperature, thermal stresses, and rate of thermal-stress variation in a sample. The evolution of the luminescence pulse is compared with that of the laser pulse, sample temperature, thermal stresses, and rate of thermal-stress variation. It has been established that the luminescence is excited as soon as the stresses at the sample surface become approximately equal to the yield point of the sample material, its intensity grows as long as the rate of stress rise increases, after which the process decays. The temporal and spatial distributions of temperature, thermal stresses, and rate of thermal-stress variation have also been calculated for the experiments, in which anomalous electron emission from the back side of laser-pulse irradiated metal targets was detected, and which were described in the literature but not appropriately explained. The dynamics of experimental and calculated relations have been compared. A correlation closely similar to that found for mechanoluminescence has been established. (C) 1998 American Institute of Physics.