Temperature and electron density of soil plasma generated by LA-FPDPS

Electron temperature and electron number density are important parameters in the characterization of plasma. In this paper the electron temperature and electron number density of soil plasma generated by laser ablation combined with nanosecond discharge spark at different discharge voltages have been studied. Saha-Boltzmann plot and Stark broadening are used to determine the temperature and electron number density. It is proved that local thermal equilibrium is fulfilled in the nanosecond spark enhanced plasma. The enhanced optical emission, signal to noise ratio and the stability in term of the relative standard deviation of signal intensity at different spark voltages were investigated in detail. A relative stable discharge process was observed with use of a 10 kV discharge voltage under the carried experimental configuration.