Abstract

Energy transfer processes in excimer laser ablation of inorganic solids were studied by optical emission spectroscopy of the ablated material during the first few microseconds following the laser pulse. Cuprous chloride was chosen for this study because, in a survey of many materials irradiated (AgCl, BN, ZnO, GaAs, Ge, SiO₂), CuCl was the only material that had detectable molecular emission. The presence of molecular emission is critical because the width of the molecular emission bands is fluence dependent and thereby allows determination of the vibrational-rotational temperature as a function of fluence.

© 1985 Optical Society of America