OBSERVATION OF AEROSOL FORMATION DURING LASER ABLATION USING A LOW-PRESSURE DIFFERENTIAL MOBILITY ANALYZER

Low-pressure differential mobility analysis was used to study the aerosol formed during 1064-nm pulsed Nd3+ : YAG laser ablation of a solid cesium iodide (CsI) target. Measurements reveal that the aerosol comprised particles in two size regimes: (i) approximately spherical ultrafine particles from the gas phase with mean diameter in the 5_10 nm size range and (ii) crystalline, spherical CsI solid droplets with mean diameter of approximately 80 nm formed by splashing of the molten layer on the target surface.