Easy optical breakdown of air close to the surfaces of two transparent insulating plates

Куликов А.В., Смирнов В.Н. Облегченный оптический пробой воздуха вблизи поверхностей двух пластин прозрачного диэлектрика // Оптический журнал. 2008. Т. 75. № 6. С. 62–64.

Kulikov A.V., Smirnov V.N. Easy optical breakdown of air close to the surfaces of two transparent insulating plates [in Russian] // Opticheskii Zhurnal. 2008. V. 75. № 6. P. 62–64.

A. V. Kulikov and V. N. Smirnov, "Easy optical breakdown of air close to the surfaces of two transparent insulating plates," Journal of Optical Technology. 75 (6), 394-395 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1364/JOT.75.000394

It is well known that the shape of a laser pulse transmitted through the plasma of an optical breakdown in a gas, for example in air (a laser spark) as well as in air close to the surface of a target (easy optical breakdown) is substantially distorted. In this case, the pulse amplitude is reduced, and its width is shortened. It is of interest to explain the possibility of initiating such a deformed breakdown pulse at the surface of a second target. The conditions are found under which breakdown can be initiated at the surfaces of two transparent insulating plates. Experimental results are obtained for the actions of the pulses of a CO2 laser on plates fabricated from NaCl. It is shown that, under the conditions of the experiments carried out here, the probability of simultaneously initiating a plasma at the surfaces of both plates is about 0.04. The possibility of increasing it to about 0.6 is pointed out.