Investigation of thermodynamic equilibrium in laser-induced aluminum plasma using the Hα line profiles and Thomson scattering spectra

Abstract

We have studied isothermal equilibrium in the laser-induced plasma from aluminum pellets in argon at pressure of 200 mbar by using a method which combines the standard laser Thomson scattering and analysis of the Hα, Stark-broadened, line profiles. Plasma was created using 4.5 ns, 4 mJ pulses from a Nd:YAG laser at 1064 nm. While electron density and temperature were determined from the electron feature of Thomson scattering spectra, the heavy particle temperature was obtained from the Hα full profile applying computer simulation including ion-dynamical effects. We have found strong imbalance between these two temperatures during entire plasma evolution which indicates its non-isothermal character. At the same time, according to the McWhirter criterion, the electron density was high enough to establish plasma in local thermodynamic equilibrium.