CO(2) Laser Ablation Propulsion Area Scaling With Polyoxymethylene Propellant

The topic of area scaling is of great importance in the laser propulsion field, including applications to removal of space debris and to selection of size ranges for laser propulsion craft in air or vacuum conditions. To address this issue experimentally, a CO(2) laser operating at up to 10 J was used to irradiate targets. Experiments were conducted in air and vacuum conditions over a range of areas from about 0.05-5 cm(2) to ablate flat polyoxymethylene targets at several fluences. Theoretical effects affecting area scaling, such as rarefaction waves, thermal diffusion, and diffraction, are discussed in terms of the experimental results. Surface profilometry was used to characterize the ablation samples. A CFD model is used to facilitate analysis, and key results are compared between experimental and model considerations. The dependence of key laser propulsion parameters, including the momentum coupling coefficient and specific impulse, are calculated based on experimental data, and results are compared to existing literature data.