Open AccessLifetime of the plasma channel produced by ultra-short and ultra-high power laser pulse in the air
Author(s) -
Xin Lü,
Xi Ting-Ting,
Yingjun Li,
Jie Zhang
Publication year - 2004
Publication title -
wuli xuebao
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.199
H-Index - 47
ISSN - 1000-3290
DOI - 10.7498/aps.53.3404
Subject(s) - plasma , laser , materials science , plasma channel , pulse (music) , power (physics) , channel (broadcasting) , optoelectronics , optics , atomic physics , telecommunications , physics , computer science , nuclear physics , quantum mechanics , detector
The time evolution of plasma channel produced by ultrashort and ultra high power laser pulses in the air has been investigated. The theoretical model considers the recombinati on of free electrons, positive and negative ions, as well as the attachment and detachment of electrons on neutral molecules in the air under the interaction with the successive coming laser's pulses. The analytical solution of rate equations of the charged particles in the plasma channel has been found when the detachment laser intensity is constant. Calculations show that the lifetime of the plasma channel with an electron density higher than 1012—1013cm-3 can be extended to microseconds by using a detachment laser to suppress the attachment between el ectrons and neutral moleculars. In the case of same wavelength and average power, the detachment efficiency of a short pulse sequence with a high repetiti on rate is higher than that of a continuous detachment laser.