Dynamics of laser ablated colliding plumes

We report the dynamics of single and two collinearly colliding laser ablated plumes of ZnO studied using fast imaging and the spectroscopic measurements. Two dimensional imaging of expanding plume and temporal evolution of various species in interacting zones of plumes are used to calculate plume front velocity, electron temperature, and density of plasma. The two expanding plumes interact with each other at early stage of expansion (∼20 ns) resulting in an interaction zone that propagates further leading to the formation of stagnation layer at later times (>150 ns) at the lateral collision front of two plumes. Colliding plumes have larger concentration of higher ionic species, higher temperature, and increased electron density in the stagnation region. A one-to-one correlation between the imaging and optical emission spectroscopic observations in interaction zone of the colliding plumes is reported.