Picosecond Laser Filamentation in Air

Pavel Polynkin (1) , Andreas Schmitt-Sody (2) , Heiko Kurz (3) , Luc Bergé (4) , Stefan Skupin (5)

1 University of Arizona
2 AFRL - Air Force Research Laboratory
3 Leibniz Universität Hannover=Leibniz University Hannover
4 DPTA - Département de Physique Théorique et Appliquée
5 CELIA - Centre d'Etudes Lasers Intenses et Applications

We show that in picosecond laser filamentation in air, impact ionization mechanism facilitates the formation of dense yet continuous plasma channels. Picosecond filamentation may combine the advantages of femtosecond filamentation and nanosecond optical breakdown regimes.

Domaines: Optique [physics.optics]; Physique Atomique [physics.atom-ph]; Physique des plasmas [physics.plasm-ph]

Pavel Polynkin, Andreas Schmitt-Sody, Heiko Kurz, Luc Bergé, Stefan Skupin. Picosecond Laser Filamentation in Air. Nonlinear Optics, Jul 2015, Kauai, Hawaii, United States. ⟨10.1364/NLO.2015.NTh1A.6⟩. ⟨hal-01182319⟩