Carbon swan spectra measurements following breakdown of nitro compound explosive simulants.

Our measurements of micro-plasma following laser-induced optical breakdown of nitro compound explosive simulants, here 3-nitrobenzoic acid, show well-developed molecular spectra during the first several hundreds of nanoseconds. Analysis of recorded carbon spectra is accomplished using accurate line strengths for the diatomic molecular Swan system. Presence of hydrogen-beta allows us to infer electron density in the plasma evolution.

Measurement and analysis of atomic hydrogen and diatomic molecular AlO, C2, CN, and TiO spectra following laser-induced optical breakdown.

In this work, we present time-resolved measurements of atomic and diatomic spectra following laser-induced optical breakdown. A typical LIBS arrangement is used. Here we operate a Nd:YAG laser at a frequency of 10 Hz at the fundamental wavelength of 1,064 nm.