<abstract xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"><p>The electric and magnetic fields surrounding a laser spark formed after an optical breakdown due to a focused nanosecond laser beam in a gaseous environment are examined in order to assess their possible influence on the processes going on in the gas medium, mainly chemical reactions triggered by the spark plasma radiation. The magnetic field is generated by the standard mechanism of crossed electron density and temperature gradients, the electric field is supposed to be produced by the plasma polarization due to its radial expansion across the self-generated magnetic field. A simple model of spark plasma formation near the tip of the focal cone is assumed, with a delayed breakdown, which allows the focused laser light to sweep the whole volume of the forming spark right down to the focal caustic and thus to form a centimeter long plasma cone. In this conical geometry, the value of plasma electric dipole moment is evaluated as a measurable quantity as well as approximate values of the electric and magnetic field near the focal caustic, where they both tend to grow in magnitude.</p></abstract>

The electric and magnetic fields surrounding a laser spark formed after an optical breakdown due to a focused nanosecond laser beam in a gaseous environment are examined in order to assess their possible influence on the processes going on in the gas medium, mainly chemical reactions triggered by the spark plasma radiation. The magnetic field is generated by the standard mechanism of crossed electron density and temperature gradients, the electric field is supposed to be produced by the plasma polarization due to its radial expansion across the self-generated magnetic field. A simple model of spark plasma formation near the tip of the focal cone is assumed, with a delayed breakdown, which allows the focused laser light to sweep the whole volume of the forming spark right down to the focal caustic and thus to form a centimeter long plasma cone. In this conical geometry, the value of plasma electric dipole moment is evaluated as a measurable quantity as well as approximate values of the electric and magnetic field near the focal caustic, where they both tend to grow in magnitude.

Ambient fields generated by a laser spark

Institute of Physics ASCR (Fyzikální ústav AVČR), Na Slovance 2, 182 21 Prague 8 – Libeň, Czech Republic

Nukleonika

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 3.0 License.

{"article-title":"Ambient fields generated by a laser spark"}

The electric and magnetic fields surrounding a laser spark formed after an optical breakdown due to a focused nanosecond laser beam in a gaseous environment...

Ambient fields generated by a laser spark

Published Online: Jun 15, 2016

Page range: 119 - 124

Received: Sep 25, 2015

Accepted: Dec 04, 2015

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1515/nuka-2016-0021

© by Karel Rohlena

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 3.0 License.