title: Determination of the transient electron temperature in a femtosecond-laser-induced air plasma filament.
abstract: The transient electron temperature in a weakly ionized femtosecond-laser-produced air plasma filament was determined from optical absorption and diffraction experiments. The electron temperature and plasma density decay on similar time scales of a few hundred picoseconds. Comparison with plasma theory reveals the importance of inelastic collisions that lead to energy transfer to vibrational degrees of freedom of air molecules during the plasma cooling.
authors: University of New Mexico, Department of Physics and Astronomy, Albuquerque, New Mexico 87131, USA. jimsun@unm.edu
authors: Zhanliang
authors: Z
authors: Sun
authors: Jinhai
authors: J
authors: Chen
authors: Wolfgang
authors: W
authors: Rudolph