Spectroscopic study of a lead plasma produced by the 1064 nm, 532 nm and 355 nm of a Nd:YAG laser

We report the effect of the laser wavelength (1064, 532 and 355 nm) and the ambient gas nature (argon, neon and helium) on the lead (Pb) plasma parameters produced by the Nd:YAG laser. The electron temperature and electron number density have been determined from the Boltzmann plots and Stark-broadened profiles of the spectral lines. It is found that the electron temperature and electron number density are the highest in the case of 355 nm laser as compared to the 532 nm and 1064 nm lasers. At the laser irradiance of 3 x 10(10) W/cm(2) of 355 nm laser, the spectral intensity of the Pb(l) 406.21 nm transition line is about 3.7 times higher than that obtained with the 1064 nm laser. The highest electron temperature and electron number density are obtained in the argon environment and the lowest in helium, while these plasma parameters decay faster in the helium environment. (C) 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.