《Theory of the electrical breakdown of gases by intense pulses of light》.pdf

Home Search Collections Journals About Contact us My IOPscience Theory of the electrical breakdown of gases by intense pulses of light This article has been downloaded from IOPscience. Please scroll down to see the full text article. 1964 Proc. Phys. Soc. 84 41 (/0370-1328/84/1/307) View the table of contents for this issue, or go to the journal homepage for more Download details: IP Address: 93 The article was downloaded on 25/10/2011 at 03:03 Please note that terms and conditions apply. ROC. PHYS. SOC., 1964,VOL. 84 Theory of the electrical breakdown of gases by intense pulses of light J. K. WRIGHT Central Electricity Research Laboratories, Leatherhead, Surrey MS. received 10th February 1964,in revised form20th March 1964 Abstract. It has recently been shown that gases may be broken down by the intense electromagnetic radiation of focused laser beams. This paper describes the theory of this type of breakdown. The mechanism analysed is that in which an electron acquires energy from the radiation field by inverse bremsstrahlung absorption. When it has gained sUacient energy the electron collides inelastically with a gas atom. In some cases this will cause ionization, but in most cases the atom will be excited to a higher level. Photoionization by the absorption of a number of photons from the light pulse rapidly ensues. In this way the electron population multiplies exponentially. There is reasonable agreement between this theory and previously published experimental results. 1. Introduction Meyerand and Haught (1963) have recently reported an experiment in which a Q-spoiled ruby las