A. V. Shutov

Triggering and guiding electric discharge by a train of ultraviolet picosecond pulses combined with a long ultraviolet pulse

Non-self-sustained electric discharge and electric breakdown were triggered and guided by a train of picosecond UV pulses overlapped with a long free-running UV pulse of a hybrid Ti:Sapphire-KrF laser facility. Photocurrent sustained by this train is two orders of magnitude higher, and electric breakdown distance is twice longer than those for the discharge triggered by the long UV pulse only.

Extended plasma channels created by UV laser in air and their application to control electric discharges

Results are presented from a series of experimental and theoretical studies on creating weakly ionized extended plasma channels in atmospheric air by 248-nm UV laser radiation and their application to control long high-voltage discharges. The main mechanisms of air ionization by UV laser pulses with durations from 100 fs to 25 ns and intensities in the ranges of 3×1011–1.5×1013 and 3×106–3×1011 W/cm2, respectively, which are below the threshold for optical gas breakdown, as well as the main relaxation processes in plasma with a density of 109–1017 cm−3, are considered. It is shown that plasma channels in air can be efficiently created by amplitude-modulated UV pulses consisting of a train of subpicosecond pulses producing primary photoelectrons and a long UV pulse suppressing electron attachment and sustaining the density of free electrons in plasma. Different modes of the generation and amplification of trains of subterawatt subpicosecond pulses and amplitude-modulated UV pulses with an energy of several tens of joules were implemented on the GARPUN-MTW hybrid Ti:sapphire-KrF laser facility. The filamentation of such UV laser beams during their propagation in air over distances of up to 100 m and the parameters of the corresponding plasma channels were studied experimentally and theoretically. Laser initiation of high-voltage electric discharges and control of their trajectories by means of amplitude-modulated UV pulses, as well as the spatiotemporal structure of breakdowns in air gaps with length of up to 80 cm, were studied.

Direct measurement of the characteristic three-body electron attachment time in the atmospheric air in direct current electric field

We report the results of theoretical and experimental study of the characteristic time for three-body attachment of electrons produced by 100 fs UV laser pulse in the atmosphere air in the external DC electric field ranged from 0.2 to 10 kV/cm.

Fifteen meter long uninterrupted filaments from sub-terawatt ultraviolet pulse in air

A technique is presented to create uninterrupted long ultraviolet filaments in air using appropriately structured transmission mesh. The mesh with different cell sizes was inserted into 10-cm parallel beam of 0.2-J, 248-nm, and 870-fs pulse propagating along ~100-m corridor. Transverse positions of multiple filaments formed by the optimum size cells were reproducible within at least 15 m along the propagation path. 3D+time simulations confirmed uninterrupted plasma channels with fixed positions in the transverse space similar to the experiment. Unoptimized cell size resulted in filaments shifting towards the cell center and destruction of uninterrupted filaments.

Major pathway for multiphoton air ionization at 248 nm laser wavelength

Multiphoton ionization mechanisms and ionization rates of atmospheric air and constituent gases are studied at the 248-nm KrF laser wavelength within a laser pulse intensity range of 108–1013 W/cm2 using both long 25-ns and short 160-fs pulses. We have experimentally shown that it is the photoionization of water vapor naturally contained in atmospheric air that acts as the dominant process of air ionization. (2 + 1) Resonance-Enhanced Multiphoton Ionization (REMPI) occurs through 2-photon resonant excitation of water molecules, which results in a quadratic dependence of electron density on laser intensity at lower laser intensities of 108–1010 W/cm2 in the long pulse and in a cubic dependence at higher intensities of 1010–1013 W/cm2 in the short pulse. Direct 3-photon ionization and (3 + 1) REMPI take place in pure O2 and N2, respectively, and their contributions to air ionization are in the ratio of 5:3. The total ionization rate of O2 and N2 in atmospheric air is about an order of magnitude less than th...

Kerr self-defocusing of multiple filaments in TW peak power UV laser beam

An effective suppression of multiple filamentation of the sub-TW peak power supercritical laser beam in xenon gas was demonstrated in direct amplification of subpicosecond UV pulses at Ti:sapphire/KrF laser facility GARPUN-MTW. A large negative nonlinear refractive index due to a two-photon resonance of KrF laser radiation with Xe state ensured Kerr self-defocusing of a few hundred filaments with a local peak intensity of ~0.2 TW cm−2, 200-fold higher than the average one over the beam cross section, and thus homogenized the laser beam. UV filaments in Xe produced a narrow-angle monochromatic coherent cone emission at 828 nm wavelength due to stimulated hyper-Raman scattering and amplified spontaneous emission at the transition .

Extremely effective air photoionization through water vapor at 248 nm laser wavelength

Multiphoton ionization mechanisms and ionization rates of atmospheric air and constituent gases are studied at 248 nm KrF laser wavelength. We have experimentally shown that it is photoionization of water vapor naturally contained in atmospheric air that acts as the dominant process of air ionization. Total ionization rate of O2 and N2 in atmospheric air is about an order of magnitude less than that of water vapor. Relevant ionization coefficients have been measured, and that for H2O molecule is more than 2-3 orders of magnitude larger than the others.

Electron-free UV laser pulse filamentation under coherent rotational SRS in air

Coherent stimulated rotational Raman self-scattering is proposed as the mechanism of electron-free filamentation of the ultra-short KrF laser pulse in air.