Study of particles ejected after pulsed laser ablation of a graphite target

This work is devoted to the study of the micrometer-sized particles ejected after pulsed laser ablation of a graphite target. The motion of these particles is followed from the target surface up to the deposited carbon film surface by fast imaging of the plasma plume and by image processing of optical photographies of various deposited carbon films. The influence of the laser fluence on the particle motion and on the size of the deposited particles are presented for laser fluence ranging 10–5000 Jrcm2. q1999 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.