Determination of ablation threshold of copper alloy with orthogonal dual-pulse laser-ablation laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy

Orthogonal dual-pulse laser-ablation laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy was first used to determine the laser-ablation threshold of samples. In this technique, the first laser pulse was used to ablate samples and the second time-delayed laser pulse was used to break down the ablated samples. Orthogonal geometric arrangement was adopted in this technique to ensure both high spatial resolution and high detection sensitivity. By monitoring the intensities of the atomic emission of the plasma under different pulse energies of the ablation laser and using an extrapolation method, the minimum pulse energy needed for the ablation of copper alloy under the tightly focused condition with a nanosecond 532 nm ablation laser was determined to be 1.9 +/- 0.1 mu J. After experimentally determining the beam spot size on the focal plan, the fluence threshold of the studied sample was determined to be 0.64 +/- 0.06 J/cm(2). This technique is able to realize direct and sensitive determination of a laser-ablation threshold of solid samples, and it is possible to find some important applications in different fields. (C) 2013 Optical Society of America