title: Formation of a conducting channel in air by self-guided femtosecond laser pulses.
abstract: We report a drastic reduction of air resistivity following the passage of a self-guided femtosecond pulse from a Ti:sapphire laser system at 800 nm with energies per pulse between 1 and 14 mJ and a pulse duration of 120 fs. Connected plasma filaments with a length that can exceed 150 cm are created by these pulses. The presence of a conducting plasma channel results from multiphoton ionization of air molecules in the filament core.
authors.affiliation: Laboratoire d'Optique Appliquée, CNRS UMR No. 7639, ENSTA-Ecole Polytechnique, Chemin de la Hunière, F-91761 Palaiseau Cedex, France.
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Tzortzakis
authors.forename: M A
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Franco
authors.forename: Y B
authors.initials: YB
authors.lastname: André
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Chiron
authors.forename: B
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Lamouroux
authors.forename: B S
authors.initials: BS
authors.lastname: Prade
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Mysyrowicz