In situ diagnostic of the size distribution of nanoparticles generated by ultrashort pulsed laser ablation in vacuum

We aim to characterize the size distribution of nanoparticles located in the ablation plume produced by femtosecond laser interaction. The proposed method relies on the use of white-light extinction spectroscopy setup assisted by ultrafast intensified temporal gating. This method allows measurement of optical absorbance of a nickel nanoparticles cloud. Simulation of the extinction section of nickel nanoparticles size distributions has been developed in order to compare the measured optical absorbance to the optical extinction by theoretical and experimental nanoparticles size distributions (measured by scanning electron microscopy). A good agreement has been found between the in situ measured optical absorbance and the optical extinction cross section calculated from ex situ nanoparticles size distribution measurements.