Light focusing from large refractive indices in ionized air

A. ROBLEDO-MARTINEZ, H. SOBRAL, M. VILLAGRÁN-MUNIZ , F. BREDICE

PHYSICS OF PLASMAS

Año: 2008 vol. 15 p. 935101 - 935108

1070-664X

The sheath that surrounds a laser-induced plasma in air was investigated with a light probe. The sheath is a 3-mm-thick halo of ionized gas created by ultraviolet light emitted from the plasma core. A beam of laser light tracked with a streak camera was employed to probe it. It was found that in the first hundreds of a nanosecond after plasma inception, the beam is deflected towards the plasma center. This result points to a high refractive index inside the sheath. The index values obtained
up to 2.0 are due to an increased susceptibility caused by a bulk electric polarization. Using previous results on the sheath’s electric polarizability values, the refractive index was calculated and was found to agree with the observed indices. The application of the electric polarization model to the guiding of laser beams and to plasma lenses is also discussed.
up to 2.0 are due to an increased susceptibility caused by a bulk electric polarization. Using previous results on the sheath’s electric polarizability values, the refractive index was calculated and was found to agree with the observed indices. The application of the electric polarization model to the guiding of laser beams and to plasma lenses is also discussed. are due to an increased susceptibility caused by a bulk electric polarization. Using previous results on the sheath’s electric polarizability values, the refractive index was calculated and was found to agree with the observed indices. The application of the electric polarization model to the guiding of laser beams and to plasma lenses is also discussed.