Laser based diagnostics of slaked lime plasma

Abstract In the present work, we present the spatial evolution of the Slaked lime Ca(OH) 2 plasma generated by the first harmonic (1064 nm) and second (532 nm) harmonics of a Q-switched Nd:YAG laser. The experimentally observed line profiles of five neutral calcium (Ca I) lines at 601.59 nm correspond to 4p6s 1 P 1  → 4s6d 1 D 2 transition, 607.62 nm to 4p6s 3 P 1  → 3d 3 P 0 , 634.46 nm to 3d9p 3 D 1  → 4s6d 3 D 2 , 659.42 nm to 3d8p 3 P 1  → 4s6d 1 D 2 and at 712.17 nm to 4p4d 1 P 1  → 3d 3 P 2 respectively have been used to extract the electron temperature through Boltzmann plot method, whereas, the electron number density has been determined from the Stark broadening. Besides, we have studied the variation of electron temperature and electron number density as a function of laser irradiance at atmospheric pressure. The electron temperature and electron number density have also been calculated as a function of distance from the target surface.