Micro-impulse and plasma plume produced by irradiating aluminum target with nanosecond laser pulses in double-pulse scheme

Abstract

The micro-impulse generated by ablating aluminum target in double-pulse laser bursts with different interpulse delays was investigated using the torsion pendulum. The plasma plume was simultaneously visualized using high-speed photography to analyze the coupling mechanism of the ablation impulse. The experiment was carried out using the pulsed laser with the pulse width of 8 ns and the wavelength of 1064 nm. The experimental results show that the impulse with an interpulse delay of 60 ns is roughly 60% higher compared to that with no delay between the two pulses when the energy of both laser pulses is 50 mJ. Therefore, the double-pulse schemes could enhance the ablation impulse under certain conditions. The reason is that the ablation of the first laser pulse changes the optical properties of the aluminum target surface increasing the absorptivity. However, the ablation impulse is reduced at the time delay of 20 ns when the energy of both laser pulses is 100 mJ or 150 mJ. It can be concluded that the plasma produced by ablating aluminum of the first pulse shields the second laser pulse. To summarize, the experimental results show that different delay time in double-pulse scheme has a significant effect on the ablation impulse. The study provides a reference for the optimization of the parameters when the laser ablation propulsion with double-pulse scheme is applied in the fields of space debris removal, laser ablation thruster, and so on.

Impulse and Plasma Plume Generated By Ablating Aluminum Target with Nanosecond Laser in Double-Pulse Configuration

“…According to previous research [10], it was found that interpulse delay time has an important influence on the impulse characteristics in double-pulse mode. When the total energy is 200mJ, the impulse shows significantly different characteristics at interpulse delays of 80ns and 300ns.…”

Experimental Research on Characteristics of Impulse Coupling and Plasma Plume Generated by Laser Irradiating Copper Target with Nanosecond Pulsed Laser Propulsion

“…In recent years, the thrust properties generated by pulsed laser ablation of solid targets have been extensively studied [8][9][10][11]. The thrust performance of LAP is usually evaluated using the impulse coupling coefficient C m , which is the ratio of the impulse generated by laser ablation to the incident laser energy [4].…”

Special issue on selected papers from CEPC 2021

“…This special issue is organized from the papers presented in the CEPC 2021. Interested readers can find the papers concerning investigations of plume thermal effect of the LIPS-200 ion thruster [1], the characteristics of non-Maxwellian magnetized sheath in Hall thruster acceleration region [2], the effect of anode axial position on the performance of a miniaturized cylindrical Hall thruster with a cusptype magnetic field [3], early experimental investigation of the C12A7 hollow cathode fed on iodine [4], experimental study on the degradation of the C12A7 hollow cathode [5], numerical simulation of the start-up process of a miniature ion thruster [6], micro-impulse and plasma plume produced by irradiating aluminum target with nanosecond laser pulses in double-pulse scheme [7], simulation of * Author to whom any correspondence should be addressed.…”