Spectroscopic measurements of excited particles in a N2 gas RF plasma-assisted carbon laser ablation

In this work, we investigated a carbon plasma plume produced by laser ablation of a graphite target in a nitrogen gas environment. The spatial distributions of C and N atoms were measured by time-resolved absorption spectroscopy. The spatial distributions of the relative densities of CN radicals, C-2, and C-3 molecules were measured using time-resolved emission spectroscopy. We determined that nitrogen gas produced an increase in carbon atom and molecule densities in the ablation plume. It was observed that the addition of RF plasma to the plume increased the CN radicals and C atom densities, and decreased the C-2 and C-3 molecule densities. The RF plasma changed the evolution of various fractional species of C, N, CN, C-2, and C-3 in the ablation plume. The chemical reactions with and without RF plasma were explained using the evolution and density of the fractional species of C, N, CN, C-2, and C(3)in the plume.