Plasma channel formation in laser produced plasma by using two subsequent laser pulses

Summary form only given, as follows. Propagation of an intense laser pulse through fully ionized plasma channel has been an interesting topic in many fields. Specifically, it includes laser-driven electron accelerators, high harmonics generation, soft x-ray laser development, and so on In order to study optical guiding of an intense laser pulse through fully ionized plasma, characteristics of the laser-produced plasma should be investigated in advance. In the present study, high intensity laser beam of 2-TW, 900 fs. (FWHM) was divided into two laser pulses (i.e., pre-pulse and main pulse) and those two laser pulses were focused subsequently into highly pressurized He-gas jet with appropriate time delay Characteristics including generation of the blast shock wave, temporal and spatial-evolution of the electron density (N/sub e/) and temperature (T/sub e/) in the plasma channel were investigated as functions of applied gas pressure and laser energy.