Effect of surrounding gases and water vapor on the induced electric current associated with a laser-induced plasma

The effect of surrounding gases and water vapor on the laser-induced electric current was investigated. Laser-induced plasma was generated on an aluminum alloy target. The laser-induced plasma was optically examined to estimate the excitation temperature and electron density in room air. There was a linear relationship between the maximum amplitude of the laser-induced current and the electron density. As the electron mean free path of the surrounding gas increased, the observed amplitude of the current increased. The amplitude of the induced current signal in dry air became maximum upon mixing with the optimum amount of water vapor. This enhancement of the induced current signal might be due to the large relative permittivity of water vapor. The laser-induced plasma as a whole seems to be a low-temperature plasma consisting of electrons, a large amount of cold surrounding gas, injected hot atoms, hot ions, and hot particles.