Expansion phenomena of aerosols generated by laser ablation under helium and argon atmosphere

Specific expansion phenomena of aerosols generated by near infrared femtosecond laser ablation (NIR-fs-LA) of brass under helium and argon atmosphere were studied. For this purpose, particles were visualized by light scattering using a pulsed laser source. Aerosols were found to be captured in symmetric vortices when striking a solid boundary during their kinetic stage of expansion. Furthermore, high-repetitive LA resulted in the formation of a complex, macroscopic flow pattern driven by a pressure gradient locally built up. Our data indicate that aerosols released under those conditions experience only minor losses of around 1% if they get in contact with the inner walls of ablation cells operated at atmospheric pressures.