Skip to main content
Article
Gas pressure dependence of microwave pulses generated by laser-produced filament plasmas
Optics Letters (2018)
  • Alexander Englesbe, Air Force Research Laboratory
  • Jennifer Elle, Air Force Research Laboratory
  • Remington Reid, Air Force Research Laboratory
  • Adrian Lucero, Air Force Research Laboratory
  • Hugh Pohle, Air Force Research Laboratory
  • Matthew Domonkos, Air Force Research Laboratory
  • Serge Y Kalmykov, Leidos
  • Karl Krushelnick, University of Michigan-Ann Arbor
  • Andreas Schmitt-Sody, Air Force Research Laboratory
Abstract
The plasma arising due to the propagation of a filamenting ultrafast laser pulse in air contains currents driven by the pulse that generate radiated electromagnetic fields. We report absolutely calibrated measurements of the frequency spectrum of microwaves radiated by the filament plasma from 2–40 GHz. The emission pattern of the electric field spectrum is mapped as a function of air pressure from atmosphere to 0.5 Torr. For fixed laser pulse energy, duration, and focal geometry, we observe that decreasing the air pressure by a factor of approximately 103 increases the amplitude of the electric field waveform by a factor of about 40. As the air pressure decreases, the lower frequency components (<10 GHz) increase in amplitude faster than those at higher frequencies (>20 GHz). To the best of our knowledge, this behavior has not been observed before, is not predicted by existing theory, and implies the existence of a radiation mechanism in the plasma distinct from that which emits at terahertz frequencies.
Keywords
  • Femtosecond laser pulse,
  • filamentation in air,
  • radiofrequency radiation emission
Publication Date
Fall October 8, 2018
Citation Information
Alexander Englesbe, Jennifer Elle, Remington Reid, Adrian Lucero, Hugh Pohle, Matthew Domonkos, Serge Kalmykov, Karl Krushelnick, and Andreas Schmitt-Sody, "Gas pressure dependence of microwave pulses generated by laser-produced filament plasmas," Opt. Lett. 43, 4953-4956 (2018).