Takahiko BANDO, Kenji ABE, and Masafumi YAMASHITA

Department of Physics, Tokyo University of Science, 2641 Yamazaki, Noda, Chiba 278-8510, Japan

(Received September 18, 2009; Accepted January 12, 2010)

The dynamic behaviors and optical properties of a ZnO plasma plume produced by pulsed laser ablation using a Nd:YAG laser (wavelength: 532 nm, pulse width: 3 ns) were studied by fast photography using a commercial gated charge coupled device (CCD) camera linked with a delay circuit and by optical emission spectroscopy at various ambient oxygen pressures. Fast photography was conducted with a resolving power of 0.25 μs and the expansion behaviors of the laser ablation plume were observed. Plasma plume expansion velocity decreased with oxygen partial pressure. The flow of the plasma plume in the early stage of expansion of up to 3 μs agreed well with the drag model.

Key words: pulsed laser deposition, zinc oxide, plasma plume, ablation