The dynamics of the species ejected by excimer laser ablation of a BiSrCaCuO target in different gas environments is studied by spatially resolved, real‐time optical emission spectroscopy. The evolution of the velocity and the emission intensity of the excited species versus the distance and the pressure of the foreign gas present a similar behavior both in reactive (oxygen) and inert (argon) environments. Furthermore, the results show that the plume expansion process is dominated by the interaction of the ejected species and the gas background atoms or molecules through collisional interactions rather than by reactions in the gas phase. The dynamics of the plume expansion is analyzed in the frame of the shock wave and drag models, the latter leading to a very good agreement with the experimental results and the dependence of the slowing coefficient with the gas pressure is established. Finally, the influence of the excitation energy of the considered transition on the observed emission features is discussed. ©1995 American Institute of Physics.