Characterization of plasma propulsion by Nd:YAG laser

Significant propulsion parameters, specific impulse and coupling coefficient for the different metallic pendulums are presented. 4 N (99.99%) pure, solid targets are in the form of foils of aluminium, copper and gold. The targets are irradiated by Q-switched pulsed Nd:YAG laser (1064 nm, 10 mJ, 1.1 MW, 9-14 ns) under standard conditions of temperature and pressure. Plasma plume of these targets is also observed by employing CCD (BOSCH LTC0510, monochrome camera) based, computer controlled image capturing system and it was seen that expansion of plasma plume for oscillating targets is anisotropic in air. The results reveal that not only very high exhaust velocity of propellant 10⁶ m/s is achieved but also very specific impulse values of Al, Cu and Au targets (3.14 × 10⁶ s, 1.37 × 10⁷ s, 7.16 × 10⁵ s respectively) are obtained. Coupling coefficients are for Al, Cu and Au were 1.54 × 10³ (N-s/J), 1.88 × 10³ (N-s/J), and 1.08 × 10³ (N-s/J) respectively.