Effect of Ambient Oxygen Gas on the Transport of Particles Produced by Laser Ablated YBa2Cu3O7-x

Abstract
The time-of-flight (TOF) distributions of particles produced by an ArF laser-ablated YBa2Cu3O7-x were measured by laser-induced fluorescence spectroscopy (LIF) under different ambient oxygen gas pressures. Nascent Y atoms react with oxygen during their flight and form YO. Transport of particles through the ambient oxygen gas is well described by the drag model at low pressures and by the shock model at high pressures. It has been found in our present experiment that the critical pressure at which the transition occurs from the drag to the shock propagation is around 100 mTorr.