Time evolution of the laser-produced antimony plasma plume parameters

The emission of antimony laser ablation plasma has been investigated at a distance of 7 mm from the target by the time-resolved spectroscopy method. The plasma was formed by radiation of the neodymium laser (3-5 x 108 W cm-2; 1.06 μ m; 20 ns; 12 Hz). The temporal dynamics have been obtained for the plasma parameters, such as the population of excited states of atoms and ions, electron temperature and density. Two peaks were observed in the temporal profile of the population of excited states. The temporal dependences of the electron density and electron temperature were triply peaked. During the time interval of 4000 ns, the electron temperature varied in the range of 0.8-0.2 eV and the density of electrons varied in the range of 1017-1012 cm-3.