Pulse laser ablation of ground glass

We have studied pulse laser ablation of ground glass surface. Ablation process in air and in vacuum has been observed by high speed framing camera. Burst of small fragments of glass has been observed in the present experiment, when ground glass surface is laser ablated through glass plate from rear side. Production of macro particles by laser ablation is an inherent characteristic of ground glass, and no similar phenomena have been observed in case of ablation of other transparent materials. By using ns-duration Nd:YAG laser of 100–400 mJ/pulse, observed maximum particle velocity ranges from 0.5 to 1.5 km/s. In order to understand the particle generation process, scanning electron micrograph observation of the ground surface in the region of no laser irradiation and also in the damaged region, has been made. Cleavage surface structure has been evidenced in the damaged surface area, which stems from plenty of micro cracks covering the virgin glass surface. Effects of surface roughness on the particle generation were studied by using ground glass of quartz with different surface roughness. Produced glass particles were captured in vacuum by a polymethylmetacrylate (PMMA) plate. Size distribution was obtained by analysing the trapped particles on the PMMA plate and revealed that most probable particles size has almost no dependence on the initial surface roughness. Finally, we applied the phenomena to ignite pentaerithritoltetranitrate (PETN) powder explosive, and succeeded in igniting (PETN) powder only by laser ablation of ground glass.