Wikipedia:Featured picture candidates/Plume

Plume
The picture illustrates the physical process of laser-surface interaction. When a high power laser pulse strikes a surface, a plasma plume is ejected from the small spot where the focused beam hits the surface. The plume then expands into the vacuum surrounding the surface, inside a vacuum chamber. The process occurs during Pulsed Laser Deposition; a process used to deposit thin films for microelectronics, MEMS, dielectrics, etc. I took this picture and added it to the Pulsed Laser Deposition article recently.

From a technical standpoint, the shot is OK, not great. But a single pulse only lasts ~30 nanoseconds! So this picture is an average of many pulses striking a surface. It's a science-related picture and I think there should be more of that stuff here, especially if it is aesthetically pleasing.


 * Nominate and support. - H.Perowne 19:52, 3 August 2006 (UTC)
 * Weak oppose - Low res, not striking, could be a blowtorch. Interesting though. HighInBC 20:37, 3 August 2006 (UTC)
 * Higher res picture uploaded --H.Perowne 20:55, 3 August 2006 (UTC)
 * Oppose because it isn't immediately apparent what's going on. Perhaps if it were vertically cropped and paired with a parallel schematic depicting the laser path and the target? Melchoir 23:57, 3 August 2006 (UTC)
 * Oppose Per Melchoir, and also because the quality is so-so (unless of course that's the best picture that can be taken in those circumstances) -- Tewy  06:29, 4 August 2006 (UTC)
 * Comment; there appears to be a large circular artifact in the way of the plume; is this a reflection of your camera lens, or part of the apparatus? smurrayinch e  ster(User), (Talk) 19:55, 4 August 2006 (UTC)
 * It is in fact part of the appartus. There are many inlets and ports for pumping and injecting gases, etc...--H.Perowne 21:29, 4 August 2006 (UTC)

Mikeo 17:27, 11 August 2006 (UTC)