Title :
Optical heating of femtosecond laser filaments for long-range guidance of electrical discharges in air
Author :
Scheller, M. ; Born, Norman ; Moloney, Jerome V. ; Polynkin, Pavel
Author_Institution :
Coll. of Opt. Sci., Univ. of Arizona, Tucson, AZ, USA
Abstract :
We experimentally demonstrate that through conditioning dilute plasma in femtosecond laser filaments in air by an energetic nanosecond laser pulse, we reduce the breakdown voltage along the filament by up to the factor of 40.
Keywords :
discharges (electric); high-speed optical techniques; plasma heating by laser; air; breakdown voltage reduction; dilute plasma; electrical discharges; energetic nanosecond laser pulse; femtosecond laser filaments; optical heating; Discharges (electric); Free electron lasers; Heating; Laser beams; Optical pulses; Ultrafast optics;
Conference_Titel :
Lasers and Electro-Optics (CLEO), 2014 Conference on
Conference_Location :
San Jose, CA
