Dynamics and 2D temperature distribution of plasma obtained by femtosecond laser-induced breakdown

Recently, plasma produced by focusing femtosecond laser in gases has been introduced as an etching tool in materials processing. Proper control of the plasma in this application necessitates the apt understanding of the different morphological features of the plasma. In this contribution we show that, the plasma produced in air goes through several stages of morphological development – from ellipsoidal to spherical to toroidal plasma, whereas in argon, axial compression of an ellipsoidal plasma is observed. To explain this dissimilarity, we have quantified the temperature by emission spectroscopy (Planck analysis with Wien’s approximation). The evolution of temperature shows a triple exponential dependence in time which can be correlated with different stages of morphological changes of the plasma. Open Source Field Operation and Manipulation (OpenFOAM) simulations using experimentally determined temperature values show that – (i) the reverse pressure gradient propagates radially inwards and compresses the plasma in both air and argon and forms a localized high pressure zone at the center that generates a secondary pressure wave in air, but not in argon, and (ii) the baroclinic torque that is generated because of the Richtmyer-Meshkov instability, dominates the rate of vorticity in air, whereas effects of flow compressibility and velocity gradients dominate the vortices in argon. Knowledge of the initial state and the dynamics of the subsequent stages of the plasma formation can be utilized for control and optimization of laser-induced plasma applications.