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Full-Text Articles in Physics

Laser-Induced Breakdown Spectroscopy, Connor Drake Jun 2011

Laser-Induced Breakdown Spectroscopy, Connor Drake

Physics

The goal of this work is to use a Neodymium-Doped Yttrium Aluminum Garnet (Nd:YAG) Laser, spectrometer, and computer to create a Laser Induced Breakdown Spectroscopy (LIBS) system. LIBS utilizes a focused, high-powered, pulsed laser whose peak electric field ionizes materials at the beam focal point, creating localized plasma. The plasma state includes broken molecular bonds, atom/electron-ionization, and excited electrons, which on the macroscopic level is a loud “snap” and a bright spark. In this project, a fiber optic cable is used to capture light emitted from the spark, and direct it into a spectrometer which tallies the number of photons …


Ignition Of A Large Volume Plasma With A Plasma Jet, M. Laroussi, M. A. Akman Jan 2011

Ignition Of A Large Volume Plasma With A Plasma Jet, M. Laroussi, M. A. Akman

Electrical & Computer Engineering Faculty Publications

Here we report on a method to generate a long plasma plume and to ignite a large volume plasma by means of the jet. The plasma plume is generated by our tube reactor and then introduced into a chamber where the pressure is controlled. We discovered there are three operating phases:Aphasewhere the plume length remains approximately constant, followed by a second phase where the jet increases in length as the pressure decreases. Then at pressures below 70 Torr a mode transition occurs where the plume length decreases and the plasma expands until the entire chamber is filled.