Hall-effect thruster plasma oscillations recorded by means of probes located at the channel exit are analyzed using the empirical mode decomposition (EMD) method. This self-adaptive technique permits to decompose a nonstationary signal into a set of intrinsic modes, and acts as a very efficient filter allowing to separate contributions of different underlying physical mechanisms. Applying the Hilbert transform to the whole set of modes allows to identify peculiar events and to assign them a range of instantaneous frequency and power. In addition to 25kHz breathing-type oscillations which are unambiguously identified, the EMD approach confirms the existence of oscillations with instantaneous frequencies in the range of 100–500kHz typical for ion transit-time oscillations. Modeling of high-frequency modes (ν∼10MHz) resulting from EMD of measured wave forms supports the idea that high-frequency plasma oscillations originate from electron-density perturbations propagating azimuthally with the electron drift velocity.

Results of spectroscopic measurements of laser-induced plasmas under welding conditions are presented and discussed. The metals welded were stainless steel and titanium. It is shown that the intensities of the atomic lines of metals give information on the peripheral region of the plasma plume. The plasma-plume parameters are found to be similar for these two metals. The ratios of intensities of the ionic and atomic lines of the metals give maximum temperatures of about 11 000 K. These temperatures are several thousand kelvins higher than the temperatures determined from the atomic lines. The plasma plumes over the keyhole consist of metal vapours diluted by argon used as the shielding gas. The electron densities determined from the Stark broadening of the argon lines are about . The average partial pressure of the metal vapours is found to be 0.2 atm, the argon partial pressure 0.6 atm and the remaining pressure is due to electrons. Equilibrium conditions have been examined and it has been found that the plasma is in local thermal equilibrium.

Results of spectroscopic measurements of laser-induced plasma under welding conditions are presented. Welding was performed with the use of a continuous-wave CO2 laser operating at a power of 2 kW. Argon or helium was used as a shielding gas. The welding metal was stainless steel or titanium. Emission spectra from plasma were measured with a spectrograph and 1254 Silicon Intensified Target detector connected to the optical multichannel analyzer. The plasma electron temperatures were determined from the relative intensities of spectral lines and the electron densities were determined either from Stark broadening of atomic line or the absolute intensity of ionic line. The distributions of the electron temperature and density over the metal surface are presented and the influence of a shielding gas on plasma parameters is demonstrated. The plasma parameters obtained were used to calculate the absorption of a laser beam in the plasma over the metal surface. No significant absorption was found in our experimental conditions.

An analysis is presented of the oscillations of keyhole pressure and plasma radiation emitted during welding with a continuous wave (CW) CO2 laser. Welding was done with a CW CO2 laser, Photon Sources VFA 2500, operating at the power of 1.75 kW. The welded materials were mild and stainless steel sheets, 0.8-2 mm thick. The shielding gas was argon or helium. Oscillations of plasma radiation were registered in monochromatic or broad band radiation with the use of a photomultiplier or photodiode and pressure variations with a microphone in the frequency range of 20-2×104 Hz. It has been found that the optical signal from the plasma plume is closely connected with the acoustic signal and that the source of the acoustic signal is the pulsating movement of the plasma plume. Spectral analysis of the measured oscillations shows differences in power spectra depending on the welding conditions. Generally, two intrinsic frequency peaks in the range of 0.5-4 kHz are always present but the amplitude, frequency and width of the peaks depend on the material and welding conditions. The results show that the optical and acoustic signals emitted during the welding process can be useful for process monitoring. The behaviour of the observed oscillations is characteristic for deterministic chaos. Considerable regularization of the process was observed as an effect of modulation of the laser beam. The modulation factor (Pmax -Pmin )/Pmax was equal to 0.2 and the modulation frequency was 2 kHz. In this case, the intense peak corresponding to the modulation frequency was observed in the power spectrum together with smaller peaks corresponding to the harmonic frequencies.