Velocity and metastable state population distributions of laser-ablated neodymium

Wang, H.*; Miyatake, Hiroari*; Oba, Hironori  ; Saeki, Morihisa; Miyabe, Masabumi   ; Shibata, Takemasa; Iimura, Hideki  

Laser-induced fluorescence spectroscopy has been employed to characterize a plume produced in nanosecond laser ablation of metallic neodymium. Kinetic energy distributions of ions and neutrals in the plume were investigated as functions of processing parameters such as laser fluence and ambient gas pressure. Population distributions of metastable levels in the ablated atoms were also measured. These investigations provide useful data for the design of a new types of resonance photo-ionization ion source and also for high-resolution laser spectroscopy.