Optical emission spectrometric characterization of plumes generated from laser-ablated Pr Sr MnO 0.67 0.33 3

The composition and evolution of the laser ablated plasma generated from UV laser ablation of a Pr0.67Sr0.33MnO3 target in O2 ambient have been investigated using a temporally and spatially resolved optical emission spectroscopy. Besides the emission lines of excited metal atoms and ions such as Prq), Srq), Mnq), Pr), Sr) and Mn), emission bands from MnO) were also observed. The temporal profiles of the plume emission showed that two emission components of ablated species appeared in oxygen ambient in stead of only one in vacuum. The delay time and intensity of the emission were measured as a function of the observation distance from the target surface and the ambient gas pressure. Possible mechanism of plume evolution is discussed. q1999 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved