Production of oxygen ions through the laser ablation of alumina

Laser ablation using a solid oxide compound material makes the ion production of gaseous elements possible. Aluminum and alumina targets were used in the laser ion source and was operated under the low laser energy regime. Mass separated ion signals show the presence of mainly Al, O and C for both aluminum and alumina targets. For the aluminum target, singly charged aluminum ions dominate the ion population in the plasma pulse for all laser power densities with other ions and higher charge state aluminum ions stay below 30%. Meanwhile, large amounts of singly charged oxygen and aluminum ions were detected for the alumina target with only less than 15% for the other ions.