Ground-state neutral atomic beam generated by pulsed CO2 laser irradiation

Al and ln cylindrical targets were irradiated by a homemade UV excited CO2 laser beam. A ground-state populated neutral atomic beam was generated, and the time profile and absolute densities at different positions from the target surface were measured by laser resonance fluorescence. Compared with atomic beams which are generated by ordinary methods such as oven or gasdynamic, this atomic beam has the following properties