Time resolved analysis of the visible light emitted by laser produced plasma

Optical spectroscopy is an effective tool to explore the laser-produced plasma. The complex interaction processes occurring in the plasma could be, in principle, analysed using time-resolved studies of its spectral emission. Nevertheless, it is difficult to realize this possibility due to the inadequacy of currently available photon detectors, as photomultipliers or change-coupled devices, which does not have enough time resolution and are not rugged enough to be used in applications in which very high intensity pulses of visible light are produced. To explore new solutions, two prototypic arrays of single photon avalanche diodes obtained by ST-microelectronics, working in silicon photomultiplier configuration, have been used to obtain information on the space and time evolution of a plasma plume generated by a 500 mJ Nd:YAG laser at 1064 nm wavelength and 9 ns pulse duration. The obtained results are shown and the further potentialities of these detectors in this field are discussed.