Optical measurement for the initial stage of laser-produced plasma and shock wave on the surface of an aluminum target

By using an optical path delay set-up, the instantaneous process in which a Q-switched YAG laser induces breakdown on an aluminum surface is studied. A series of time-resolved Mach- Zehnder interferograms and optical shadowgrams of the plasma and the shock wave during the initial stage is obtained. Plasma refractivity distribution and electron density on the shock front are computed.© (1992) COPYRIGHT SPIE--The International Society for Optical Engineering. Downloading of the abstract is permitted for personal use only.