• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Propulsion Engineers Conference
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• 2017.05a
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• pp.753-756
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• 2017

With the advancement of technology, miniaturization, integration, and weight reduction have become possible, and the existing medium and large satellites have been replaced by small satellites, and the need for a micro thruster has emerged. Laser ablation micro-thruster is a new type thruster using laser ablation. It is emerging as a new candidate in micro-thrusters with wide thrust range and low single impulse thrust. The objective of present study is to introduces the structure, propellant, and research trends of the laser ablation micro-thruster.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Propulsion Engineers Conference
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• 2004.03a
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• pp.271-277
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• 2004

As one of the concepts of the laser/electric hybrid propulsion system, a feasibility study on possibilities of electrostatic acceleration of a laser ablation plasma induced from a solid target was conducted. Energy distributions of accelerated ions were measured by a Faraday cup. A time-of-flight measurement was also conducted for ion velocity measurement. It was found that an average speed of ions from a pure laser ablation in this case was about 20 km/sec for pulse energy of 40 $\mu$J/pulse with pulse width of 250 psec. On the other hand, through an electrostatic field with a + I ,000 V electrode, the speed could be accelerated up to 40 km/sec. It was shown that the electrode with positive potential was more effective than that with negative potential for positive-ion acceleration in laser induced plasma, or pulsed plasma, in which ions were induced with the Coulomb explosion following electrons. In addition, the ion-acceleration or deceleration strongly depended on conditions of pairs of inner diameter and electrodes gap.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Propulsion Engineers Conference
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• 2008.03a
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• pp.566-569
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• 2008

Recently, the biolistic process is emerging as an effective needle-free drug delivery technique to transfer adequate concentrations of pharmacologic agents to soft living tissues with minimum side effects. We have started developing an effective method for delivering drug coated particles using laser ablation. A thin metal foil with deposited micro-particles on one side is irradiated with laser beam on the opposite side so that a shock wave is generated. This shock wave travels through the foil and is reflected, which causes and instantaneous deformation of the foil. Due to such a sudden deformation, the micro-particles are ejected at a very high speed. Here we present the experimental results of direct and confined laser ablation, which correspond to the initial stage of the whole experiment.

• Journal of the Korea Institute of Military Science and Technology
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• v.25 no.2
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• pp.169-176
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• 2022

Laser ablation propulsion(LAP) is the method to create impulse by laser ablation. It can be used to deorbit the space debris(SD), as its long-range property and versatility on any material. In this paper, we find out several requirements of the LAP system(LAPS) to deorbit the SD by simple numerical calculations of the SD orbit and laser beam flux. As a result, minimum operable altitude angle turned out to be a crucial variable to the LAPS. Moreover, if minimum operable altitude angle is 10°, and if the minimum distance between the LAPS and the SD is below 450 km, 1 m/s² is sufficient to deorbit the SD by once. With 18 kJ/3 ns pulsed laser and cube shaped 100 kg SD, 1 m/s² acceleration can be achieved by increasing the pulse repetition rate over 34~53 Hz, depending on the size of the SD. This capability could compare with the conceptual design of the Japan Establishment for a Power-laser Community Harvest(J-EPoCH) facility, which include 8 kJ, 5 PW@100 Hz laser.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Propulsion Engineers Conference
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• 2008.03a
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• pp.837-841
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• 2008

Propulsion of gene coated micro-particles is desired for non-intrusive drug delivery inside biological tissue. This has been achieved by the development of a device that uses high power laser pulses. The present paper looks at the mechanisms of micro-particle acceleration. Initially, a high power laser pulse is focused onto the front side of a thin aluminium foil leading to its ablation. The ablation front drives a compression wave inside the foil, thus leading to the formation of a shock wave, which will later reflect from the rear side of the foil, due to acoustic impedance mismatch. The reflected wave will induce an opposite motion of the foil, characterized by a very high speed, of the order of several millimeters per microsecond. Micro-particles, which are deposited on the rear side of the foil, thus get accelerated and ejected as micro-projectiles and are able to penetrate several hundreds of micrometers inside tissue-like material. These processes have been observed experimentally by using high-speed shadowgraphy and considered analytically.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Propulsion Engineers Conference
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• 2007.04a
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• pp.349-352
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• 2007

In this paper, we describe the modeling of ablation based laser applications for innovative use in the military In the laser ignition system, a metal confinement is ablated with the high intensity pulsed energy, triggering a thermal ignition of the confined high explosives. The constitutive equations for the laser source, deformation of metals, and explosion of energetic materials are described.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Propulsion Engineers
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• v.22 no.1
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• pp.98-106
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• 2018

With the advancement in technology, miniaturization, integration, and weight reduction of satellite components have become possible. In this regard, existing medium and large satellites have been replaced by small satellites. As the demand for small satellites increases, the need for micro-thrusters has emerged for precise attitude and position control. A laser ablation micro-thruster, which generates thrust by using ablation jets that offer a wide range of thrusts and low-impulse thrusts, is considered as an alternative for micro-thrusters in small satellites. The objective of the present study is to introduce configurations of the laser ablation micro-thruster and its research trend.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Propulsion Engineers Conference
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• 2012.05a
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• pp.429-434
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• 2012

Ignition delay of micro/nano aluminum particles is caused by aluminum oxide shell. The method of minimizing this ignition delay is proposed in the study. Generating and heating of particles are processed at the same time. As soon as heated particles are produced, they immediately contact with oxygen. Chemical reaction is induced on the contact surface instead of crystallization of oxide shell. Finally particles are ignited. Aluminum particles are generated by laser ablation on an aluminum plate using Nd:YAG pulse laser. Injected particles are confirmed through visualization of particles using scattering method. $CO_2$ continuous laser supplies heat to aluminum plate and generated particles. Trace of burning particles is observed in the experiment.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Propulsion Engineers Conference
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• 2009.05a
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• pp.365-368
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• 2009

A new concept of a small thruster for altitude control of a micro/nano class satellite is developed, which utilizes the pulsed laser energy. As the laser-based thruster does not require burning of any fuel, it gives promise of small satellite design criteria, namely light weight and cost effectiveness. In this paper, we develop gel-type material for generating strong plasma plume for enhancing thrust for propulsion. Moreover, we quantify the level of thrust via the momentum coupling coefficient measured by the pendulum system. We discover that the driving force is significantly improved via the gel-typed propellant for laser ablation.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Propulsion Engineers Conference
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• 2007.04a
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• pp.353-357
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• 2007

We have been setting up experiments on propagation of shock waves generated by the pulsed laser ablation. One side of a thin metal foil is subjected to laser ablation as a shock wave propagates through the foil. The shock wave, which penetrates through the foil is reflected by an acoustic impedance which causes the metal foil to high-strain rate deform. This short time physics is captured on an ICCD camera. The focus of our research is applying shock wave and deformation of the thin foil from the ablation to accelerating micro-particles to a very high speed.