Time-of-flight characteristics of a laser torch during ablation of a MnSi target in argon atmosphere

The Langmuir-probe technique has been used to study the time-of-flight characteristics of a laser torch during MnSi-target ablation in vacuum and argon atmosphere by pulsed 532-nm laser radiation at 15-ns pulse duration. It is established that the amplitude of the signal of fast particles in the laser torch nonmonotonically depends on the buffer-gas pressure. Mechanisms determining this dependence of laser-torch characteristics on the pressure are considered. The influence of buffer-gas pressure on the ion-velocity distribution function is determined.