Photoacoustic monitoring of the pulsed laser ablation of glochids on prickly pear fruit

摘要

The use of the photoacoustic technique for real time monitoring of the efficiency and cleaning sites localization during the laser assisted removal of the spiky glochids from prickly pear fruit is proposed. Prickly pear areoles were irradiated with high energy microsecond Nd: YAG laser sequence of pulses up to the entirely removal of the glochids agglomerate. Strong selective absorption of the laser radiation leads to the formation of a high pressure plasma. The photoacoustic experiments were done in open air conditions using a standard electret transducer. Results obtained from photoacoustic signal analysis display high sensibility and signal to noise ratio for in situ monitoring of the process.