Characterization of a nonequilibrium XeCl laser-plasma by a movable Faraday cup

In this work the experimental results of a nonequilibrium laser-plasma induced by an ultraviolet 308 nm excimer laser are reported. All measurements were performed fixing the laser energy at 70 mJ. It was concentrated on a 0.0099 cm2 spot by a convergent focal lens of 15 cm focal length. The utilized target was a 99.99% pure Cu disk. An 8 cm in diameter movable Faraday cup was developed in order to detect the plasma flow pulse at different positions along a drift tube. Analyzing the time-of-flight pulse under different cup bias voltage, we were able to distinguish the electron pulse, the suprathermal ions, and the thermal evolution of the plasma. In addition, by applying a breakdown voltage as polarizing cup voltage, we characterized the duration of the neutral component. To determine the system particle production efficiency, the total etched material per pulse, 0.235 mg, and the fractional ionization were measured. The expelled particle flux distribution was measured by an optical transmission analysis of a Cu deposited film on a glass substrate. The plasma flow was detected along its propagation axis, between 6 and 40 cm far from the target. The ablation process expelled particles with an initial velocity of 34 km/s, while the maximum ion concentration was 1 ms after the laser pulse. The plasma created propagates with a mean velocity of about 20 km/s. During the propagation, the longitudinal plasma dimension changed from 2.8 cm, near the target, to 31 cm at the maximum cup distance analyzed. At lowest distances, the cup signal wave forms presented a plateau due to the high dense plasma undergone to the space charge regime governed by the Child–Langmuir law.