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Experimental measurements of multiphoton enhanced air breakdown by a subthreshold intensity excimer laser

J. Appl. Phys. 106, 083303 (2009); doi:10.1063/1.3245332

Published 23 October 2009

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Jesse Way, Jason Hummelt, and John Scharer
Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of Wisconsin, Madison, Wisconsin 53706, USA
This work presents density, spectroscopic temperature, and shockwave measurements of laser induced breakdown plasma in atmospheric air by subthreshold intensity (5.5×109  W/cm2) 193 nm laser radiation. Using molecular spectroscopy and two-wavelength interferometry, it is shown that substantial ionization (>1016  cm−3) occurs that is not predicted by collisional cascade (CC) breakdown theory. While the focused laser irradiance is three orders of magnitude below the theoretical collisional breakdown threshold, the substantial photon energy at 193 nm (6.42 eV/photon) compared with the ionization potential of air (15.6 eV) significantly increases the probability of multiphoton ionization effects. By spectroscopically monitoring the intensity of the N2+ first negative system (B 2Sigma<sub>u</sub><sup>+</sup>−X 2Sigma<sub>g</sub><sup>+</sup>) vibrational bandhead (v[prime]=0,v[double-prime]=0) at low pressure (20 Torr) where multiphoton effects are dominant, it is shown that two photon excitation, resonant enhanced multiphoton ionization is the primary mechanism for quantized ionization of N2 to the N2+(B 2Sigma<sub>u</sub><sup>+</sup>) state. This multiphoton effect then serves to amplify the collisional breakdown process at higher pressures by electron seeding, thereby reducing the threshold intensity from that required via CC processes for breakdown and producing high density laser formed plasmas. ©2009 American Institute of Physics
History: Received 3 July 2009; accepted 14 September 2009; published 23 October 2009
Permalink: http://link.aip.org/link/?JAPIAU/106/083303/1
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KEYWORDS and PACS

Keywords
PACS
  • 52.50.Jm
    Plasma production and heating by laser beams
  • 52.35.Tc
    Shock waves and discontinuities in plasma
  • 52.20.-j
    Elementary processes in plasma
  • 52.80.-s
    Electric discharges
  • YEAR: 2009

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PUBLICATION DATA

ISSN:
0021-8979 (print)   1089-7550 (online)
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