PNNL

Abstract

Ultraviolet laser-induced desorption of neutral atoms and molecules from nominally transparent, ionic materials can yield particle velocities consistent with surface temperatures of a few thousand Kelvin, even in the absence of visible surface damage. The origin of the laser required for this surface heating has been often overlooked. In this work, we report simultaneous neutral emission and laser transmission measurements on single crystal NaCI exposed to 248-nm excimer laser radiation. As much as 20% of the incident radiation at 248 nm must be absorbed in the near surface region to account for the observed particle velocities. We show that the laser absorption grows from low values over several pulses and saturates at values sufficient to account for the surface temperatures required to explain the observed particle velocity distributions. The growth of absorption in these early pulses is accompanied by a corresponding increase in the emission intensities. Diffuse reflectance spectra acquired after exposure suggest that near surface V-type centers are responsible for most of the absorption at 248 nm in single crystal NaCI.