This work presents an investigation of optical breakdown phenomena on metal surfaces irradiated by high energy laser beam . An experimental study of lectromagnetic emission of plasma produced by Nd:glass laser with power density of (2xl08 - 1.2xl09) W/cm2 that interacts with aluminum, copper and stainless steel targets in a controlled vacuum, at fixed pulse duration of 330 us has been carried out. The plasma emission lifetime has been investigated utilizing a photomultiplier tube to detect the emission in ultraviolet and the visible regions that is 185-650 nm wavelength. The factors affecting the plasma emission lifetime and intensity, like laser power intensity, surrounding atmosphere, pressure, gas type and , material physical properties have been investigated, where different laser energies are used ranging from 0.7 to 4.2 joules and surrounding gas pressure of (0.4and 4) mbar are used for each target. Also three species of gas type namely air, N2 and O2 were used. Also it was found that the material physical properties have a significant effect on plasma emission intensity and lifetime. The absorption of the plasma formed at the surfaces of the metals has been investigated using low energy Nd: YAG laser. It has been found that at a certain Nd:glass laser energy level, a full absorption of the Nd:YAG emission takes place by the plasma plume.