Spectroscopic characterization of laser-ablated plume from a La-Ca-Mn-O target in an O2 ambient

The composition and evolution of the plume produced by the laser ablation of a La2O3-CaO-MnO2 target at 355 nm in an O-2 ambient have been studied with a temporally and spatially resolved optical emission spectroscopic technique. Besides lines of excited metal atoms and ions, such as La(II), Ca(II), Mn(II), Ca(I), and Mn(I), bands of the metal oxides LaO and MnO were observed. In the oxygen ambient, two emission peaks corresponding to a fast and a slow component of ablated species Mn(I), MnO, Ca(I), and LaO were measured by optical time-of-flight spectroscopy. The delay times of two emission components for these ablated species were investigated as a function of the observation distance from the target surface and the laser fluence. The possible mechanism of the laser-ablated plume is discussed.