Long plasma channels generated by femtosecond laser pulses.
Generation of a long plasma channel by femtosecond laser pulses is investigated. The results show that the balance between the nonlinear self-focusing of the laser beam and plasma defocusing forms a long plasma channel, which guides the laser beam to propagate a long distance in air. This phenomenon can be used to trigger lightning.
Yang
H
H
Laboratory of Optical Physics, Institute of Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100080, China.
Zhang
J
J
Yu
W
W
Li
Y J
YJ
Wei
Z Y
ZY