XUV spectroscopic studies of plasma plumes produced from boron, boron carbide and boron nitride targets by a laser

Abstract Spectroscopic investigations are made on expanding plasma plumes created by a 20 ns, 3 J laser pulse impinging perpendicularly onto targets of boron, boron carbide and boron nitride. The characterization of the plasma plumes is carried out spectroscopically in the wavelength range from 30 to 330 Å, and by taking pinhole pictures at shorter wavelengths. The experimental results are compared with the plasma plume produced from different targets under the same experimental conditions. The calculated plasma temperatures are 50 eV and 30 eV at 1 mm from the target in the cases of boron and boron carbide targets, respectively. Electron temperature measurements were made as a function of laser irradiance, distance from the target surface and time elapsed after the maximum of the laser pulse.