Intensity coded false color animation of expanding laser generated plume from an aluminum nitride target in the Ceramic Division's Pulsed Laser Deposition Facility. The field of view, looking at the target, is about 1 cm by 1 cm and the total sequence time is 150 ns (1.5 x 10-7 s).

The images were obtained with an intensified CCD camera equipped with a 200 mm lens, 2x coupler at F/11. 30 frames averaging 8 laser shots were obtained with a 5 ns exposure and incremental delay of 5 ns resulting in a 150 ns sequence. Each frame was self normalized and converted to intensity coded false color. The aluminum nitride target was in a vacuum chamber maintained at a pressure of 13 Pa of dry nitrogen gas. An excimer laser operating at 248 nm (UV) with an energy of 220 mJ was focused on the aluminum nitride target to a a spot about 0.25 x 1.0 mm. The laser was on for about 30 ns and hit the target from the left. The laser interacted with the plume resulting in a more energetic plume, i.e. more emission, on the left side. The expanding plume appears to rotate because the expansion is faster normal to the narrow direction of the laser footprint.

Detailed analysis of image sequences, such as this one, are compared with hydrodynamic models of the the plume's expansion to better understand the Pulsed Laser Deposition process.