Influence of an external magnetic field on laser-induced plasma and cavitation bubbles in submerged targets

Abstract

A pulsed Nd:YAG laser is tightly focussed on a metal target immersed in distilled de-ionized water. The resultant laser-induced plasma and subsequent cavitation bubble behavior are studied under the influence of an external magnetic field that is varied from 700 to 1000 Gauss. The study is conducted using a beam deflection probe arrangement. In addition, laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy is also employed to study the plasma spectrum. Furthermore, three different magnetic materials are employed for this investigation: ferromagnetic nickel, paramagnetic gadolinium, and diamagnetic copper. The studies revealed that cavitation bubble radii and collapse durations increased considerably as the magnitude of the external magnetic field was increased. This effect was prominent in the case of nickel and less so in the case of gadolinium and copper. For nickel, collapse times increase when the magnetic field was applied, whereas for gadolinium and copper, significant changes were not observed. The differences observed in collapse times showed that magnetic properties of the targets played a vital role in this phenomenon. The process of pulsed laser ablation in liquid also led to the respective generation of metallic nanoparticles from individual materials. Characterization of the generated nanoparticles revealed size reduction when synthesized under the influence of an external magnetic field. These characterizations were performed using transmission electron microscopy and UV-Vis spectroscopy.