Mechanism of laser ablation in liquid media investigated by using long-lasting lanthanide emission as a probe

Laser ablation of Eu2O3 in water has been studied by emission spectroscopy and shadowgraphy. In the emission spectra, many emission lines appear in the visible region and last for a millisecond. In the early time range from the ablation pulse shot, most of them are assigned to Eu atoms and Eu+ ions. Among them, the emission lines originated from the transition to the ground state of both species show the self-reversed profile. It indicates that both Eu atoms and Eu+ ions in their ground state are abundant in the peripheral region of the plume. In a later time range, the emission lines originated from trivalent Eu species (Eu2O3 nanoparticles) appear and last for a long time. In the shadowgraphs, the gas cavity-like plume expands, shrinks, and collapses with time. Based on the obtained results, we revealed that the chemical reactions following the laser ablation phenomenon in liquid does not end only in the plume, but also proceeds in the surrounding liquid phase. By using the long-lasting lanthanide emission as a probe, the information about the distribution of the ablated species in the plume can be obtained as long as milliseconds. The mechanism of the particle formation can also be discussed.

[1]  Lianhui Wang,et al.  Study on preparation and optic properties of nano europium oxide–ethanol sol by pulsed laser ablation , 2002 .

[2]  Kotaro Saito,et al.  Observation of the light emitting region produced by pulsed laser irradiation to a solid–liquid interface , 2002 .

[3]  M. Tsuji,et al.  Preparation of silver nanoparticles by laser ablation in solution: influence of laser wavelength on particle size , 2002 .

[4]  Ángel Maquieira,et al.  Functionalized europium oxide nanoparticles used as a fluorescent label in an immunoassay for atrazine , 2003 .

[5]  Neil Genzlinger.  A. and Q , 2006 .

[6]  Thomas Jüstel,et al.  Rare earth phosphors: fundamentals and applications , 1998 .

[7]  Kotaro Saito,et al.  Rotational spectra and temperature evaluation of C2 molecules produced by pulsed laser irradiation to a graphite–water interface , 2003 .

[8]  T. Kondow,et al.  Formation of Gold Nanoparticles by Laser Ablation in Aqueous Solution of Surfactant , 2001 .

[9]  Yukio H. Ogata,et al.  Laser ablation at the solid-liquid interface: transient absorption of continuous spectral emission by ablated aluminium atoms , 2002 .

[10]  Akira Matsunawa,et al.  Laser ablation at solid-liquid interfaces: An approach from optical emission spectra , 2000 .

[11]  F. Bozon-Verduraz,et al.  Self-influence of a femtosecond laser beam upon ablation of Ag in liquids , 2004 .

[12]  Michel Meunier,et al.  Stabilization and size control of gold nanoparticles during laser ablation in aqueous cyclodextrins. , 2004, Journal of the American Chemical Society.

[13]  Y. Ogata,et al.  Emission spectra of the species ablated from a solid target submerged in liquid: vibrational temperature of C2 molecules in water-confined geometry , 2002 .