Analysis of the influence of radiation polarization type on the absorptive capacity and propulsive motion of microparticles in the light field of СО2 laser

Abstract

The influence of the linear and circular polarization of laser radiation on the absorption coefficient of single spherical AISI-304 steel particles was theoretically analyzed. It is shown that the absorbed power of the laser beam depends on the particle sizes and on the location of particles in the light field. The influence of the laser-induced evaporation of the material on the regularities of the reactive motion of particles at a power density in the beam exceeding some threshold value is established. The direction of the action of the reactive force is directly related to the nonuniform distribution of the absorbed laser-emitted power and with the recoil pressure of the vapors moving away from the curvilinear surface of particle. A description to the mechanism of deflection of the particle’s reactive force vector due to the vapor recoil pressure in the light field of a Gaussian beam from the direction of the beam action is given.