Chemical consequences of laser-induced breakdown in molecular gases

This article gives an account of chemical reactions initiated by laser-induced dielectric breakdown (LIDB) in homogeneous molecular gases. The systematic part of the article describes the laser-plasma-chemical behavior of simple inorganic gases and their mixtures, metal carbonyls and organometallics, and organic molecular gases. Research on LIDB-initiated chemical reactions producing well-defined fine solid particles has been triggered again recently by the advent of nanotechnologies. Laser ignition of fuel mixtures is also a well researched branch of laser-plasma chemistry because of strong commercial and military interests. However, the strongest current impulses for studying laser-spark chemistry come from planetary sciences, where laser sparks have been used as a laboratory model of high-energy-density phenomena (e.g., impact of extraterrestrial bodies, lightning) in planetary atmospheres. A single pulse from a high-power laser system was used to develop an improved method for investigating this phenomenon. The particular processes responsible for the chemical action of a laser spark are identified and described in detail by the end of the article.