Effect of cumulative ablation on the ejection of particulates and molecular species from YBa2Cu3O7− x targets

Effects of cumulative ablation on the ejection of particulates and molecular species in pulsed-laser deposition are studied by Mie scattering and laser-induced fluorescence spectroscopy, respectively. When a fresh target is ablated, a large amount of particulates are ejected during several initial shots and rapidly decreased within the first ten shots of ablation. This is due to the ejection of powder residues which are struck on the target surface during the polishing process. After this period, ejection of particulates increased gradually and almost saturated after 200 shots. The saturation characteristic is empirically formulated as a function of the number of cumulative ablations. On the other hand, ejection of molecular species rapidly decreases during the initial 500 ablations and afterwards decreases more slowly with further ablation. The effects of cumulative ablation on the particle ejection are discussed in conjunction with the structural modification of the ablated surface observed by the scanning electron microscope.