Dual-wavelength differential spectroscopic imaging for diagnostics of laser-induced plasma

A specific configuration for plasma fast spectroscopic imaging was developed, where a pair of narrowband filters, one fitting an emission line of a species to be studied and the other out of its emission line, allowed double images to be taken for a laser-induced plasma. A dedicated software was developed for the subtraction between the double images. The result represents therefore the monochromatic emission image of the species in the plasma. We have shown in this work that such configuration is especially efficient for the monitoring of a plasma generated under the atmospheric pressure at very short delays after the impact of the laser pulse on the target, when a strong continuum emission is observed. The efficiency of the technique has been particularly demonstrated in the study of laser-induced plasma on a polymer target. Molecular species, such as C-2 and CN, as well as atomic species. such as C and N, were imaged starting from 50 ns after the laser impact. Moreover space segregation of different species, atomic or molecular, inside of the plasma was clearly observed. (C) 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.