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Some Properties of Femtosecond Laser Filamentation Relevant to Atmospheric Applications Part II. Large-Scale Filamentation

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Progress in Ultrafast Intense Laser Science II

Part of the book series: Springer Series in Chemical Physics ((PUILS,volume 85))

Summary

Filamentation is a non-linear propagation regime of ultrashort, high-power laser pulses, in which a dynamic balance is established between Kerr self-focusing and defocusing on the air ionized by the laser pulse itself. It opens the way to various applications in atmospheric sciences, such as white-light Lidar relying on the white light continuum, which can be observed up to high altitudes and allows multicomponent remote sensing. Other applications rely on the ability of the filaments to deliver high intensities and induce non-linear optical effects at remote locations, e.g. the remote sensing of aerosols or the analysis of solid targets. Furthermore, the ionization of the fs-laser-induced filaments permits to control high-voltage discharges, opening the way to laser lightning rods. These applications require a good characterization of filamentation over long distances in the atmosphere. This chapter reviews experimental results about long-range filamentation, the build-up of the white-light continuum and the beam geometry. Emphasis is put on results directly relevant for atmospheric applications.

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  1. Teramobile, Laboratoire de Spectrométrie Ionique et Moléculaire, UMR CNRS 5579, Bâtiment Kastler, Université Claude Bernard Lyon 1, 43 bd du 11 novembre, F69622, Villeurbanne Cedex, France

    Jérôme Kasparian

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Kasparian, J. (2007). Some Properties of Femtosecond Laser Filamentation Relevant to Atmospheric Applications Part II. Large-Scale Filamentation. In: Progress in Ultrafast Intense Laser Science II. Springer Series in Chemical Physics, vol 85. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-540-38156-3_15

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