cw gas breakdown in argon using 10.6-μm laser radiation
- 15 July 1972
- journal article
- research article
- Published by AIP Publishing in Applied Physics Letters
- Vol. 21 (2) , 62-64
- https://doi.org/10.1063/1.1654280
Abstract
A very intense gas breakdown spark has been extended to a continuous arc in argon using a focused cw CO2 laser. To achieve cw breakdown, the focal volume of a mirror focusing a high‐power CO2 laser was preionized by a single pulse from a CO2 TEA laser. The electron density created by the pulsed laser is sufficient to start the cw plasma. This letter reports accurate measurements of pulsed thresholds as well as preionized cw thresholds for breakdown in argon. Also, a study of the time development of the cw plasma is presented.Keywords
This publication has 3 references indexed in Scilit:
- Gas-Breakdown Dependence on Beam Size and Pulse Duration with 10.6-μ Wavelength RadiationApplied Physics Letters, 1971
- Helical TEA-CO2 LasersCanadian Journal of Physics, 1971
- Gas Breakdown with 10.6-μ-Wavelength CO2 Laser RadiationJournal of Applied Physics, 1970