Dynamics Of A Laser-Induced Plume Self-Similar Expansion

The dynamics of a laser ablation plume during the first stage of its expansion, just after the termination of the laser pulse is modeled. First, we suppose the laser fluence range low enough to consider a neutral vapor. The expansion of the evaporated material is described by one-component fluid and one-dimensional Euler equations. The vapor is assumed to follow an ideal gas flow. For high energetic ions, the charge separation can be neglected and the hydrodynamics equations can be solved using self-similar formulation. The obtained ordinary differential equations are solved numerically. Secondly, the effect of ionization is investigated when the evaporated gas temperature is sufficiently high. In this case, Saha equation is included in the formulation of the model. We find a self-similar solution for a finite value of the similarity variable which depends on the laser ablation parameters.