Excimer laser-induced ablation of clean and CO-covered polycrystalline copper surfaces: Generation and characterization of high energy copper species

Abstract

Copper atoms, clusters and ions were generated by ablation of clean and CO-covered polycrystalline copper surfaces under UHV conditions, using a high peak power, pulsed excimer laser as the energy source. The species in the vapor phase were characterized by time-resolved mass spectrometry and optical detection of laser induced fluorescence. The laser power density threshold of vaporization for the clean copper (300(30) MW/cm 2) was significantly lower than the threshold in the case of CO-covered copper surfaces (> 400 MW/cm 2).