Pulsed-laser deposition and laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy of functional oxide materials

Abstract

Pulsed-laser deposition (PLD) and laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy (LIBS) techniques are reviewed and new results on PLD and LIBS of functional oxide materials are reported. Nano-composite high-T c superconducting (HTS) films with enhanced critical current density are produced by laser ablation of novel ceramic targets. The transport properties of HTS thin films are modified by light-ion irradiation. Nano-patterning of HTS films is achieved by masked ion beam irradiation. Optically transparent epitaxial ZnO layers are grown by PLD and acoustic resonances in the GHz range are excited by piezoelectric actuation. LIBS is employed to analyze impurity trace elements in industrial oxide powder. For quantitative analysis of major and minor elements the calibration-free LIBS method is refined. This CF-LIBS method is employed to the analysis of multi-element materials and very good match with nominal concentration of oxides is achieved (relative error less than 20 %).