Comprehensive Study on the Electron Temperature and Electron Density of Laser-Induced Mg Plasma

Abstract

In this study, we shall report the spectroscopic studies of the laser induced-Mg plasma in the atmospheric air by a Q-switched Nd-YAG laser operating at its fundamental wavelength of 1062 nm. The plasma was evaluated as a function of distance along the plasma expansion from 0.5-5.5 mm. The electron temperature and the electron number density were determined from the Boltzmann’s plot method and the Stark broadening methods respectively. From our investigations the electron temperature was evaluated to be in the range of 17556-9785 K for the laser energy of 500 mJ and 17341-8946 K with laser energy of 450 mJ. The electron number density was deduced to be from 1.46 × 1017-1.89 × 1017 cm-3 and 1.29 × 1017-1.78×1017 cm-3 respectively. From our evaluations, we observed that the electron temperature and number density decrease along the distance of the plasma expansion, and also increases with increasing laser energy.