Combined effects of ambient gas pressures and magnetic field on laser plasma expansion dynamics

In this work, we investigated the influence of air gas pressures on the expansion features of nanosecond laser ablated aluminum plasma in the absence and presence of a nonuniform magnetic field using fast photography. A particular emphasis was given to the plume dynamics (shape, size) with the combined effects of ambient gas pressures and an external magnetic field. Free expansion, sharpening effect, and hemi-spherical structures of the aluminum plasma were observed without a magnetic field under different gas pressures. Analysis of the resulting plume images with the combined effects of air gas pressures and a magnetic field show significant changes, such as plume splitting, elliptical geometry changes, radial expansion, and plume confinement. Furthermore, the total size of the plasma plume with a magnetic field was measured to be smaller than the plasma plume without a magnetic field at several background pressures.