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Creating extended, highly homogeneous plasma columns like that required byplasma wakefield accelerators can be a challenge. We study the propagation ofultra-short, TW power ionizing laser pulses in a 10-meter-long rubidium vaporand the plasma columns they create. We perform experiments and numericalsimulations for pulses with 780 nm central wavelength, which is resonant withthe D$_2$ transition from the ground state of rubidium atoms, as well as forpulses with 810 nm central wavelength, some distance from resonances. Wemeasure transmitted energy and transverse width of the pulse and use schlierenimaging to probe the plasma column in the vapor close to the end of the vaporsource. We find, that resonant pulses are more confined in a transversedirection by the interaction than off-resonant pulses are and that the plasmachannels they create are more sharply bounded. Off-resonant pulses leave awider layer of partially ionized atoms and thus lose more energy per unitpropagation distance. Using experimental data, we estimate the energy requiredto generate a 20-meter-long plasma column and conclude that resonant pulses aremuch more suitable for creating a long, homogeneous plasma.

Generation of 10-m-lengthscale plasma columns by resonant and off-resonant laser pulses