Laser ablation of ceramic oxides in the presence of a RF pulsed oxygen plasma

We have carried out laser ablation of ceramic targets with synchronous pulsed injection of molecular oxygen gas ionized and dissociated by a radio-frequency discharge. Time- and space-resolved optical absorption spectroscopy diagnostics reveals that the conditions occurring in conventional ceramic laser deposition experiments, i.e. with a continuous flow of molecular oxygen, can be recovered in the novel configuration. This approach allows us to reduce sample exposure to oxygen, which may be useful to prevent substrate oxidization in coated conductor fabrication. (C) 2003 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.