Optics and Photonics Society of Iran

Optical pumping of the laser-induced plasma of metals at a low-pressure atmosphere requires high power optical sources in the blue and ultra-violet region of spectrum. To achieve the highest optical pumping at the laser beam position on the target surface, a special optical configuration and discharge circuit are designed and applied to trigger two and four, 20 mm arc length, xenon flash lamps in series. Moreover, the behavior of discharge circuit and its capability to excite the flash lamps at a low pressure of air and neon atmosphere (0.1-100 mbar) is investigated. The experimental findings show that the pulse-width of the discharge current for 0.5 J total charging energy is less than 3.5 microseconds. In addition, the jitter among the peaks of discharge current and the laser pulse is less than 1 microseconds that is more than the adequate to pump effectively plasma at the proper time.