CO/sub 2/ laser sustained CW discharge atomic beam source

A high pressure, supersonic, laser sustained plasma nozzle beam source has been developed for the production of intense (>1019 particles s1-sr-1) beams of atomic and/or radical species having kinetic energies in the range of 1 to 10 eV. A high plasma temperature (10 to 30,000 K) is produced in the throat of a hydrodynamic expansion nozzle by sustaining a cw optical discharge in a gas using a high power cw CO2 laser. Gas mixtures are expanded through the nozzle/discharge region creating energetic atoms and molecules. An oxygen atom beam has been produced with a kinetic energy of 2 to 3 eV and an intensity of approx. 1018 O-atoms s-1sr-1. O-atom collisions (1 eV) from an uncharacterized nickel surface shows strong specular scattering with approximately 50% energy loss to the surface. Argon beams having kinetic energies between 5 to 10 eV with intensities of >1019 atoms s-1sr-1 have also been produced. 13 refs., 8 figs