Plasma density inside a femtosecond laser filament in air: Strong dependence on external focusing

Journal Article · Fri Sep 15 00:00:00 EDT 2006 · Physical Review. E, Statistical Physics, Plasmas, Fluids, and Related Interdisciplinary Topics

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PHYSREVE.74.036406· OSTI ID:21072309

Theberge, Francis; Weiwei, Liu; Simard, Patrick Tr; Chin, See Leang ^[1]; Becker, Andreas ^[2]

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1. Centre d'Optique, Photonique et Laser and Departement de Physique, de Genie Physique et d'Optique, Universite Laval, Quebec, G1K 7P4 (Canada)
2. Max-Planck-Institut fuer Physik komplexer Systeme, Noethnitzer Str. 38, D-01187 Dresden (Germany)

Our experiment shows that external focusing strongly influences the plasma density and the diameter of femtosecond Ti-sapphire laser filaments generated in air. The control of plasma filament parameters is suitable for many applications such as remote spectroscopy, laser induced electrical discharge, and femtosecond laser material interactions. The measurements of the filament showed the plasma density increases from 10{sup 15} cm{sup -3} to 2x10{sup 18} cm{sup -3} when the focal length decreases from 380 cm to 10 cm while the diameter of the plasma column varies from 30 {mu}m to 90 {mu}m. The experimental results are in good qualitative agreement with the results of numerical simulations.

• OSTI ID: 21072309
• Journal Information: Physical Review. E, Statistical Physics, Plasmas, Fluids, and Related Interdisciplinary Topics, Vol. 74, Issue 3; Other Information: DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevE.74.036406; (c) 2006 The American Physical Society; Country of input: International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA); ISSN 1063-651X
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS
GENERAL PHYSICS
AIR
COMPUTERIZED SIMULATION
ELECTRIC DISCHARGES
LASER RADIATION
LASERS
PLASMA
PLASMA DENSITY
PLASMA DIAGNOSTICS
PLASMA FILAMENT
PLASMA SIMULATION
PROCESSING
SPECTROSCOPY