Effect of an energy reservoir on the atmospheric propagation of laser-plasma filaments |
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Authors: | Eisenmann Shmuel Peñano Joseph Sprangle Phillip Zigler Arie |
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Affiliation: | Racah Institute of Physics, Hebrew University, Jerusalem, Israel 91904. |
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Abstract: | The ability to select and stabilize a single filament during propagation of an ultrashort, high-intensity laser pulse in air makes it possible to examine the longitudinal structure of the plasma channel left in its wake. We present the first detailed measurements and numerical 3-D simulations of the longitudinal plasma density variation in a laser-plasma filament after it passes through an iris that blocks the surrounding energy reservoir. Since no compensation is available from the surrounding background energy, filament propagation is terminated after a few centimeters. For this experiment, simulations indicate that filament propagation is terminated by plasma defocusing and ionization loss, which reduces the pulse power below the effective self-focusing power. With no blockage, a plasma filament length of over a few meters was observed. |
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