Spectrometric Measurement of Plasma Parameters Utilizing the Target Ambient Gas O I & N I Atomic Lines in LIBS Experiment

Ashraf M. El Sherbini, Abdel Aziz Saad Al Amer, Ahmed T. Hassan, Tharwat M. El Sherbini

Department of Physics, Collage of Science, Al Imam Muhammad Ibn Saud Islamic University (AIMSIU), Al Riyadh, KSA.
Laboratory of lasers and New Materials (LLNM), Department of physics, Faculty of Science, Cairo University, Giza, Egypt.

DOI: 10.4236/opj.2012.24035                

Abstract

In this article, we shall report the results of the spectroscopic measurements of the plasma parameters utilizing the spectral lines emitted from the air atoms surrounding plasma (O I line at 777.19 nm and N I at 746.83 nm). The plasma was created via irradiation of plane solid aluminum target in open air by a high peak power Nd: YAG laser pulses at fundamental wavelength of 1064 nm. The emission spectra were recorded using Echelle type spectrograph in conjunction with a time gated ICCD camera at different delay time from 1 to 5 μs and at a fixed gate time of 1 μs. The plasma electron density was measured utilizing the Stark broadening of the N I and O I lines and then compared to the reference density as deduced from the optically thin H_α-line at 656.27 nm appeared in the same emission spectra. The results show that under our experimental conditions the air lines are subjected to moderate absorption. The plasma electron temperature was measured utilizing the relative spectral intensity of the air (O I to N I) lines after correcting their spectral radiance against absorption. The standard temperature was measured utilizing the Al II ionic lines. A comparison to the reference temperatures shows a very close agreement after correcting the emission spectral radiance of the air lines against self absorption, which emphasizes the importance of correction process.

Keywords

LIBS; Self Absorption; O I-N I Lines; Plasma Parameters

Conflicts of Interest

The authors declare no conflicts of interest.

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