Triggering and guiding of high voltage discharge by using femtosecond laser filaments with different parameters

This paper demonstrates the triggering and guiding of the stationary high voltage (HV) discharges at 5--40 kV by using plasma filaments generated by femtosecond laser pulses in air. A significant reduction of the breakdown voltage threshold due to the pre-ionization of the air gap by laser filamentation is observed. The discharge experiments are performed by using laser pulses with different energy from 15--60 mJ. The electron density of filaments is detected by sonography method. The influence of the electron density of laser filaments on the triggering and guiding HV discharge is experimentally investigated. The results have shown that the behaviour of plasma filaments can strongly affect the efficiency of triggering and guiding HV discharge.     

Interaction of light filaments in air

This paper analytically investigates the interaction of light filaments generated by a femtosecond laser beam in air. It obtains the Hamiltonian of a total laser field and interaction force between two filaments with different phase shifts and crossing angles. The property of the interaction force, which leads the attraction or repulsion of filaments, is basically dependent on the phase shift between filaments. The crossing angle between two filaments can only determine the magnitude of the interaction force, but does not change the property of the force.     

Triggering of high voltage discharge by femtosecond laser filaments on different wavelengths

The triggering and guiding of high voltage discharge by plasma filaments generated by 400 nm and 800 nm femtosecond laser were studied experimentally. The detailed diagnostics for characteristics of filaments, such as amount of free electrons, diameter and electron density, were performed using sonographic method, fluorescence imaging and resistivity measurement. A significant reduction of the breakdown voltage threshold due to the pre-ionization of the air gap by laser pulse filaments was observed. It is shown that the 400 nm laser pulses demonstrated stronger triggering ability than 800 nm laser pulse under same pulse energy. This behavior of 400 nm femtosecond pulse is connected to the rich population of highly excited particles in filaments.     

激光啁啾对激光等离子体细丝传输的影响

对不同啁啾状态下的飞秒激光在大气中的成丝过程进行了研究.实验研究发现成丝状况及其演化与初始激光脉冲的啁啾状态密切相关，适当的负啁啾有利于激光的成丝传输.当初始激光脉冲的啁啾量不断变大时，激光脉冲在大气中的成丝起点位置会逐渐变远.还研究了初始脉冲啁啾量对使用聚焦透镜产生的细丝的影响，发现其与自由传输情况具有相似的变化规律. 关键词： 飞秒激光等离子体通道 脉冲啁啾     

Experimental tests of the new paradigm for laser filamentation in gases

Since their discovery in the mid-1990s, ultrafast laser filaments in gases have been described as products of a dynamic balance between Kerr self-focusing and defocusing by free electric charges that are generated via multiphoton ionization on the beam axis. This established paradigm has been recently challenged by a suggestion that the Kerr effect saturates and even changes sign at high intensity of light and that this sign reversal, not free-charge defocusing, is the dominant mechanism responsible for the extended propagation of laser filaments. We report qualitative tests of the new theory based on electrical and optical measurements of plasma density in femtosecond laser filaments. Our results consistently support the established paradigm.     

Triggering and guiding megavolt discharges by use of laser-induced ionized filaments

We have demonstrated the ability to trigger and guide high-voltage discharges with ionized filaments generated by femtosecond terawatt laser pulses. The plasma filaments extended over the whole gap, providing a direct ohmic connection between the electrodes. Laser-guided straight discharges have been observed for gaps of as much as 3.8 m at a high voltage reduced to 68% of the natural breakdown voltage. The triggering efficiency was found to depend critically on the spatial connection of the laser filaments to the electrode as well as on the temporal coincidence of the laser with the peak of the high voltage.     

Interaction of a high-intensity ultrashort laser pulse with extended nanofilaments of dense plasma

Generation and propagation of fast electrons in laser targets consisting of thin nanofilaments are studied numerically and analytically. Such targets completely absorb laser radiation and exhibit a large coefficient of laser-energy conversion to kinetic energy of a flow of fast electrons. Analytical estimates show that the optimal thickness of the filament is on the order of the skin depth of the laser plasma, while an optimal distance between filaments is on the order of the Debye radius of hot electrons. A bunch of relativistic electrons can propagate as far as several hundred micrometers in such targets, while the fastest electrons can propagate several millimeters. Upon bending of filaments, the flow of electrons propagates along the filaments and can be focused by bringing the filaments together. Laser targets of the discussed composition are used as sources of dense bunches of relativistic electrons and subsequent generation of high-intensity X-ray radiation with their help.     

Remote sub-diffraction imaging with femtosecond laser filaments

Achieving super-resolution has become a scientific imperative for remote imaging of objects and scenes needing increased detail and has motivated the development of various laser-based techniques. We demonstrate a scheme which achieves subdiffraction imaging of remote objects by using femtosecond laser filaments. The use of laser filaments for imaging is destined to have applications in many environments.     

Terahertz radiation source in air based on bifilamentation of femtosecond laser pulses

A new terahertz (THz) source in air based on the bifilamentation of femtosecond laser pulses is reported. This THz radiation is 1 order of magnitude more intense than the transition-Cherenkov THz emission from femtosecond laser filaments reported recently and shows different angular and polarization properties. We attribute it to the emission from a bimodal transmission line created by two plasma filaments.     

纳秒激光水击穿成丝实验研究

为了研究水与纳秒激光相互作用的现象,利用相机拍摄了经显微镜放大之后的击穿区域的图像。激光射入水中后,若激光功率超过击穿阈值,水被击穿,在传播方向上形成纺锤形状的等离子体光点,同时在纵向上出现光束分裂和多丝现象。增大入射能量,传输方向上光点变密,纵向上多丝现象更加明显。利用B-T理论模拟了一维光场经调制之后的光场分布,与实验结果吻合较好。     

Filaments in high-speed counter-streaming plasma interactions driven by high-power laser pulses

Interactions of two counter-streaming plasmas driven by high power laser pulses are studied on Shenguang II laser facility.Filamentary structures were observed in the interaction region after the electrostatic shockwave decay.Theoretical analysis and observations indicate that the filaments are because of collisionless mechanisms,which are caused by the electromagnetic instability,such as the beam-Weibel instability.Collision experiments were also carried out for comparison and no filaments were generated.     

Highly nonlinear fundamental mechanisms of excitation and coloring of wide-gap crystals by intense femtosecond laser pulses

Analysis of the spatial distribution of the color centers formed in wide-gap LiF and MgF₂ crystals in a laser beam channel has shown that these centers are formed in numerous longitudinal filaments into which a laser beam splits when propagating in a medium. The luminescence of the produced color centers is photoluminescence, which is excited by the supercontinuum radiation in the filaments.     

Comparison between geometrically focused pulses versus filaments in femtosecond laser ablation of steel and titanium alloys

Kerr self-focusing of high-power ultrashort laser pulses in atmosphere may result in a structure or structures of high intensity that can propagate over long distances with little divergence. Filamentation has garnered significant interest in the nonlinear optics community due to its unique properties. Salient features of filaments include a central region of intense laser power (greater than the ionization threshold of the propagation medium) and a low temperature plasma column that lasts up to nanoseconds in duration after the passage of the laser pulse. Steel and titanium samples are ablated by filaments and by sharply focused sub-picosecond laser pulses. We then performed metrology on the samples to compare the ablation features in addition to modeling of the plasma ablation process. Ablation with filaments leads to a wider range of material responses as compared to ablation with sharply focused pulse. This results in potential complications for applications of filament ablation that depends on the rate of material removal and spectroscopic analysis.     

fs激光在靶背表面产生的质子束成丝

 介绍了利用3TW/60fs钛宝石超短超强激光与20μm铜薄膜靶相互作用的实验。实验观测到质子束的角分布随激光功率密度有所变化。在较高的功率密度（～1×10¹⁸ W/cm²）时，观测到环状的质子束分布，发散角较大。在较低的激光功率密度（～2×10¹⁷ W/cm²）时，质子束发散角减小，质子束出现成丝现象。质子束的角分布实际上反映了从靶前输运到靶背的超热电子电流横向分布。在输运过程中，由于Weibel不稳定性会使超热电子电流出现空心化并最后破裂成丝。     

Saturation of the filament density of ultrashort intense laser pulses in air

We experimentally and numerically characterize multiple filamentation of laser pulses with incident intensities of a few TW/cm². Propagating 100 TW laser pulses over 42 m in air, we observe a new propagation regime where the filament density saturates. As also evidenced by numerical simulations in the same intensity range, the total number of filaments is governed by geometric constraints and mutual interactions among filaments rather than by the available power in the beam.     

Generation,transport, and focusing of fast electrons in nanofilaments of a target irradiated by a short laser pulse with ultrarelativistic intensity

Absorption of an intense short laser pulse by targets consisting of a bungle of carbon nanofilaments either parallel or converging to the vertex of a cone has been numerically simulated. Such targets efficiently generate a flux of relativistic electrons propagating along filaments and following their bends. The focusing of fluxes from several filaments to one flux makes it possible to reduce the transverse size of an electron bunch as compared to the diameter of the laser beam. The energy flux density of electrons in such a bunch propagating along one nanofilament is several times higher than the energy flux density of the laser pulse.     

Generation of a variable linear array of phase-coherent supercontinuum sources

We investigate the coherence properties of a linear array of white-light sources produced in bulk media by ultrashort laser pulses. The array is generated out of the spatial interference pattern between two laser pump pulses, so that the number of supercontinuum sources and their separations can be easily manipulated by varying the geometry of the laser beam interaction. We find that all the secondary white-light sources which arise from the generation of filaments in the optical medium are well phase-locked and are thus able to generate stable and high-visibility multiple-beam interference patterns in the far-field. Observations are compared to the results of a simple model which takes into account a clamping of the peak laser intensity inside the filaments and includes intensity-dependent phase shifts among the different sources. PACS 42.65.Jx; 42.65.Ky; 42.65.Re     

Towards a control of multiple filamentation by spatial regularization of a high-power femtosecond laser pulse

We propose a new method for controlling randomly generated multiple filaments during the propagation of femtosecond laser pulses in optical media. The method is based on introducing a periodic amplitude modulation of the transverse beam profile. It is shown both experimentally and numerically that the introduction of a periodic mesh into a propagation path of a femtosecond near-infrared laser pulse leads to a deterministic spatial distribution of multiple filaments in the presence of initial random fluctuations. As a result, the number of filaments is increased as compared to the random case. PACS 42.65.Jx; 42.25.Bs; 42.60.Jf     

Interference pattern generation and simulation in the single beam of a white light continuum

We demonstrate the interference phenomenon in the White Light Continuum(WLC) generated by a single femtosecond laser beam. Different kinds of spatial interference patterns of the WLC generation under various conditions were investigated. The spatial patterns were attributed to interference between the filaments in the WLC generated by the fundamental laser beam yielding the diffraction effect from spatial confinement. Simulations of different patterns were performed. By comparing the results of simulation with those of experiments,the distances of several micrometers between the neighboring filaments can be derived,which agree with the literature values from direct measurements.     

铷原子热蒸气中强非线性效应产生激光模式图样的实验研究

研究了具有高斯横向分布的连续激光束单次通过铷原子蒸气后,在近共振附近铷原子蒸气中,由强的非线性克尔效应导致激光分裂成细丝的现象,并且这些细丝的衍射图样在远场通过相干叠加,可以形成具有规则结构的斑图模式.实验上研究了输入光功率,铷泡温度和抽运激光频率相对于⁸⁵Rb原子D₂线的不同失谐位置等因素对斑图模式的影响.由于铷原子的超精细能级结构,在铷原子蒸气中同时存在与三阶非线性效应相关的四波混频现象,通过扫描探测光的频率同时观察到具有斯托克斯和反斯托克斯光子的拉曼增益现象. 关键词： 铷原子蒸气 克尔效应 自聚焦 斑图