Dynamics of electron beam ablation of silicon dioxide measured by dye laser resonance absorption photography

The dynamics of electron beam ablation plumes have been characterized through the application of dye laser resonance absorption photography. The ablation of fused silica by a channelspark electron beam was studied by probing the near-ground state, 3p D24s P neutral Si transition at 288.158 nm. Necessary background gases ~Ar or N2) were tested at pressures of 15 or 30 mTorr. A two-lobed, Si atom plume shape was discovered that is hydrodynamically more complex than laser ablation plumes. These plumes merge into a single-lobed plume at about 400 ns after the e-beam current pulse rise. Plume front expansion velocities of Si atoms were measured at nearly 1 cm/ms, and are comparable to the expansion of laser ablated metal atom plumes with laser fluences of a few J/cm. © 1998 American Institute of Physics. @S0003-6951~98!02444-9#