Black and white images of particulates ejected from a carbon target in the Ceramic Division's Pulsed Laser Deposition Facility. The field of view, looking sideways at the target and substrate, is about 5 cm by 5 cm. The total sequence consists of 30 frames of single laser hits on the target. The camera was set for 16 multiple exposures of 50 microseconds duration separated by 50 microseconds. The gain of the camera is set high to enable the recording of the faint trails of the ejected particles.

The images were obtained with an intensified CCD camera equipped with a 55 mm lens at F/8. The carbon target was in a vacuum chamber mainted at a pressure of <.01 Pa background gas. An excimer laser operating at 248 nm (UV) with an energy of 100 mJ was focused on the carbon target. The laser was on for about 30 ns and hit the target from the right. Some of the ejected particles can be seen to hit the substrate and ricochet off the target, others breakup.

Detailed analysis of images, such as these, is used to design schemes for particulate reduction in the Pulsed Laser Deposition process.