Influences of preparation conditions on laser-ablated Si nano-particle formation processes observed by imaging laser spectroscopy

Abstract The behaviors of atomic species and nano-particles in the laser-ablated plume were investigated by two-dimensional laser-induced fluorescence (2D-LIF) and UV Rayleigh scattering (2D-RS) imaging techniques. The images observed in the ablation of silicon (Si) in a He ambient are presented for various processing conditions. The temporal behavior of Si2 molecules, which were generated by the clustering of Si atoms, was also investigated.