Laser-induced plasma expansion: theoretical and experimental aspects

Theoretical and experimental efforts to describe the expansion of laser-induced plasma plume are reviewed. Particular attention has been devoted to a comparison between experimental and theoretical time of flight (TOF) profiles. The theoretical results obtained by inserting plasma kinetics in one-dimensional fluid-dynamic code show that chemical processes strongly influence the fluid dynamic expansion. Moreover fluid-dynamics codes based on both Navier-Stokes and DSMC models, which in addition include the possibility of different temperatures for electrons and heavy particles, are discussed.