Study of the plume generated by Nd:YAG laser ablation of a hydroxyapatite target

The plume generated by Nd:YAG laser ablation of a hydroxyapatite target has been investigated in vacuum and at 0.1 and 0.2 mbar of water vapor. The investigation has been carried out by means of fast intensified CCD imaging with the aid of bandpass interferential filters that allow the following single species to be isolated: neutral calcium, calcium oxide radicals and neutral oxygen. Results obtained in vacuum reveal that expansion takes place at a constant velocity of about 2᎒⁴ m/s for the atomic species and about 3᎒³ m/s for the molecular ones and that emission is completely dominated by emissive neutral calcium. When ablation is carried out in a water atmosphere, the background gas confines the species in the leading edge of the plume, which results in the formation of a planar shock wave at 0.1 mbar and a spherical shock wave at 0.2 mbar. Comparison of the images with those obtained at 0.1 mbar of Ne has revealed the existence of chemical reactions between the plume and the water atmosphere, leading to the formation of calcium oxide radicals. In that case, plume emission is dominated by these molecular species.