0 Beyer, V. Greenhalgh, D.A. 2006 Applied Physics B: Lasers and Optics 83 3 455 - 467 06/2006 This paper reports on a study of laser-induced incandescence of carbon particles in free space within a high vacuum (<10-3 mbar) excited by an Nd:YAG laser pulse. We have conducted an experimental study using samples of carbon black placed within an evacuated, sealed glass vessel which is slowly tumbled to cause a cascade of carbon black particles in free space. Our experiments show that under a high vacuum two important phenomena are observed. Due to the absence of gaseous conduction, in comparison to particles in ambient air, incandescence lifetime in a vacuum is dramatically extended to more than 50 μs with a corresponding increase of a factor of over 104 in the integrated or total number of photons emitted by each soot primary particle. For large aggregates and/or agglomerates in a vacuum after a delay of the order of 2 to 10 μs, the large particles fragment into smaller entities. We have also modelled the incandescence behaviour using well established methods. http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s00340-006-2238-6