Excimer laser destruction of micrometer size particles in a gas volume.

ArF excimer laser ablation of micrometer size smoke grains was investigated. It was demonstrated that this procedure is suitable for destruction of these particulates in consequence of very fast heating, oxidation, burning, and evaporation. The time-resolved investigations revealed that the destruction process takes place between 0 and 7 ns after the maximum of the excimer pulse. The efficiency of breaking into small pieces was found to be dependent on the excimer laser fluence. Atomic force microscopic investigations of the sedimented smoke particles proved that the size of the grains significantly decreased by the excimer laser radiation. © 2001 American Institute of Physics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]