Carbon plasmas in the infrared: The first steps of a new method

2^nd International Conference and Exhibition on Materials Science and Chemistry

July 13-14, 2017 Berlin, Germany

Laszlo Nemes

Research Center for Natural Sciences, Hungarian Academy of Sciences, Hungary

Posters & Accepted Abstracts: J Material Sci Eng

Abstract :

Mid infrared time-resolved emission (IrLIBS) spectra were recorded from laser-induced carbon plasma at Hampton University, Virginia, USA. These spectra constitute the first report of carbon materials LIB spectroscopy in the mid infrared range. The plasma was induced using a Q-switched Nd:YAG laser. The laser beam was focused to high purity graphite pellets mounted on a translation stage. Mid infrared emission from the plasma in atmospheric pressure background gases was detected by a cooled MCT detector in the range 4.5-11.6 micrometer, using long-pass filters. The spectra were taken in argon, helium and also in nitrogen and were background corrected and noise filtered. A 0.15 m spectrometer with gratings blazed at 8 micrometer was used. Spectral resolution was around 80 nm. Several spectral runs were averaged using a boxcar averager. Even though a gate delay of 10 to 20 microseconds was used, there were strong backgrounds in the spectra. Superimposed on this background broad and noisy emission bands were observed, the form and position of which depended somewhat on the ambient gas. In argon, for instance strong bands were observed around 4.8, 6.0 and 7.5 micrometer. Using atomic spectral data by NIST it could be concluded that carbon and argon lines from neutral and ionized atoms are very weak in this spectral region. The width of the infrared bands also supports molecular origin. The infrared emission bands were thus compared to vibrational features of carbon molecules and clusters of various sizes on the basis of previous carbon cluster infrared absorption and emission spectroscopic analyses in the literature and quantum chemical calculations. Application of these results is expected in materials science, environmental chemistry and also in astrophysics.

Biography :

Email: nemesl@comunique.hu