Related papers: Shockwave-assisted laser filament conductivity
We investigate the triggering and guiding of DC high-voltage discharges over a distance of 37 cm by filaments produced by ultraviolet (266 nm) laser pulses of 200 ps duration. The latter reduce the breakdown electric field by half and allow…
We investigate the interaction of narrow plasma channels formed in the filamentation of ultrashort laser pulses, with a DC high voltage. The laser filaments prevent electrical arcs by triggering corona that neutralize the high-voltage…
The response of conduction band electrons to a local, pulse-like external excitation is investigated. The charge density wave packets that emerge as a consequence of the excitation leave the interaction region with a speed close to the…
Modern laser sources nowadays deliver ultrashort light pulses reaching few cycles in duration, high energies beyond the Joule level and peak powers exceeding several terawatt (TW). When such pulses propagate through optically-transparent…
We show that under appropriate conditions the impact of a very short and intense laser pulse onto a plasma causes the expulsion of surface electrons with high energy in the direction opposite to the one of propagation of the pulse. This is…
We investigate experimentally the plasma dynamics of a centimeter-scale, laser filamentation-guided spark discharge. Using electrical and optical diagnostics to study monopolar discharges with varying current pulses we show that plasma…
We investigate ablation experiments performed by laser-plasma-filament guided electrical discharges at high-voltages of up to 145 kV. The guiding was accomplished via fs-laser-generated plasma filaments across a gap of 201 mm of air onto…
We theoretically investigate the generation of ultrafast currents in insulators induced by strong few-cycle laser pulses. Ab initio simulations based on time-dependent density functional theory give insight into the atomic-scale properties…
We experimentally demonstrate that the transmission of a 1030~nm, 1.3~ps laser beam of 100 mJ energy through fog increases when its repetition rate increases to the kHz range. Due to the efficient energy deposition by the laser filaments in…
It was recently demonstrated that laser filamentation was able to generate an optically transparent channel through cloud and fog for free-space optical communications applications. However, no quantitative measurement of the interaction…
We study the use of frequency upconversion schemes of near-IR picosecond laser pulses and compare their ability to guide and trigger electric discharges through filamentation in air. Upconversion, such as Second Harmonic Generation, is…
We briefly report on the recently proposed [G. Fiore, R. Fedele, U. de Angelis, Phys. Plasmas 21 (2014), 113105], [G. Fiore, S. De Nicola, arXiv:1509.04656] electron acceleration mechanism named "slingshot effect": under suitable conditions…
Laser wakefield acceleration (LWFA) using high repetition rate mJ-class laser systems brings unique opportunities for a broad range of applications. In order to meet the conditions required for the electron acceleration with lasers…
In the frame of laser-driven wakefield acceleration, the main characteristics oflaser propagation and plasma wave excitation are described, with an emphasis onthe role of propagation distance for electron acceleration. To…
Self-guided femtosecond laser pulses propagating in low-pressure gas can generate plasma filaments, establishing a new framework for plasma wakefield acceleration. Unlike conventional schemes relying on mechanically confined or preformed…
We briefly report on some results regarding the impact of very short and intense laser pulses on a cold, low-density plasma initially at rest, and the consequent acceleration of plasma electrons to relativistic energies. Locally and for…
Three dimensional Particle-In-Cell simulations describing the interaction of a short intense laser pulse with thin foils are presented. It is observed that the laser generated electron current decays into magnetically isolated filaments.…
The propagation of intense picosecond laser pulses in air in the presence of strong nonlinear self-action effects and air ionization is investigated experimentally and numerically. The model used for numerical analysis is based on the…
The effects leading to generation of quasi-stationary and propagating electromagnetic fields during the propagation of a laser-driven current discharge pulse in extended targets are considered. The results of numerical modeling describe the…
By measuring energy spectra of the electron emission from a sharp tungsten tip induced by few-cycle laser pulses, the laser-field dependence of the emission mechanism was investigated. In strong laser fields, we confirm the appearance of…