Experimental Intverstigation Of Nanosecond Laser Propulsion Of Steel Ball And Aluminum Target

Laser plasma propulsion gets much attention, and thanks to the development of laser technology, it currently becomes one of the hot spots in the area of scientific research.In this thesis, a YAG laser with lOHz and 8ns pulse duration was used to propel the steel microball and aluminum target in air. Dependence of momentum coupling coefficient of the microball and aluminum target on laser focus position, laser pulse energy and wavelength (355nm and 532nm) as well as other parameters were experimentally investigated. The results show that maximum of coupling coefficient can be reached when the microball is positioned ahead of the laser focus point, but it is strongly depend on pulse energy or wavelength. Momentum coupling coefficient of the microball experiences a process of rising to maximum and then drop sharply. However, momentum coupling coefficient of the aluminum target reduces with the increase of laser pulse energy in the pulse energy range of our laser. The results achieved in this experiment is useful for the laser propulsion research.