Characteristics of droplets ejected from liquid glycerol doped with carbon in laser ablation propulsion

Abstract

The characteristics of droplets ejected from liquid glycerol doped with carbon are investigated in laser ablation propulsion. Results show that carbon content has an effect on both the coupling coefficient and the specific impulse. The dopedcarbon moves the laser focal position from the glycerol interior to the surface. This results in a less consumed glycerol and a high specific impulse. An optimal propulsion can be realized by varying carbon content in glycerol.

Solid-like ablation propulsion generation in nanosecond pulsed laser interaction with carbon-doped glycerol

“…[15] A proportional relationship was observed in previous studies for carbon content lower than 5%. [11,13] This is because for such a carbon content, the target momentum is determined mainly by the ejection of un-ionized droplets. It is believed that liquids with low viscosity, such as water, ethyl alcohol etc., always present a proportional relationship between the coupling coefficient and specific impulse.…”

“…However, a maximum carbon content only up to 5% has been considered in previous studies and a specific impulse of only a few seconds was obtained. [11][12][13] At such carbon content, the splashing volume is significantly lower than that of pure glycerol, but the specific impulse is still low due to the properties which is consistent with the scenario of a liquid. Therefore, a systematic study of carbon-doped glycerol with high carbon content, is essential to reduce splashing and further enhance the specific impulse.…”

“…1. [11,14] A He-Ne laser beam is used as the probe beam, which is returned by two mirrors and composed of two probe beams. After laser ablation, two signals are recorded by using an oscilloscope.…”

“…To further increase the viscosity and enhance the laser absorption, carbon black often serves as an absorber, and images reveal that the splashing is almost eliminated as indicated in Refs. [5] and [11]. However, a maximum carbon content only up to 5% has been considered in previous studies and a specific impulse of only a few seconds was obtained.…”

Impacts of laser pulse width and target thickness on laser micro-propulsion performance

“…The Russian laser ablation micro-thruster with a volume of 2U failed to launch. Cai et al [20,21], Zheng et al [22,23], Wu et al [24,25] and Hong et al [26,27] conducted extensive research on the mechanism of laser-matter interactions and the engineering applications of laser propulsion technology, and contributed to the development of laser propulsion technology. However, in the past few decades, urgent problems have arisen that need to be addressed.…”