Source: http://aoot.osa.org/oe/abstract.cfm?uri=oe-27-6-8456
Timestamp: 2019-04-25 14:08:34+00:00

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When a femtosecond laser pulse propagates through water clouds, optical breakdown can occur once the laser intensity exceeds a certain threshold. This photoionization process, along with the resultant laser-induced plasma, can strongly influence laser communications and laser-induced precipitation. However, the calculation model for the initial evolution of the laser field and its self-generated plasma remain insufficient. Here, we provide a theoretical transient coupling model to investigate the evolution of the laser-induced plasma in the water-cloud droplets, along with the nonlinear absorption occurring during optical breakdown. Agreement is achieved between the experimentally determined breakdown threshold and our calculated prediction. The calculation results indicate that the optical breakdown occurring in a water cloud has a considerable influence on the laser field. It is recommended that the laser intensity does not exceed the breakdown threshold for laser communications. We expect that our findings will also be helpful for weather control.
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Fig. 1 Sketch of femtosecond laser interaction with water cloud with (a) three-dimensional model, (b) xy plane model, and (c) yz plane model. The water clouds are composed of large amounts of droplets and cloud condensation nuclei (CCN).
Fig. 2 Variation of droplet optical breakdown threshold with droplet radius r. The thresholds for droplets with r > 0.9 μ m are not shown, as those thresholds tend to have a stable value.
Fig. 3 Time evolutions of laser-induced plasmas while femtosecond laser pulse passes through droplets. The droplet r values are (a)–(c) 4 and (d)–(f) 0.8 μ m. Note that the color map in each figure is different as the color scale represents the relative FED only; i.e., the ratio between the FED anywhere and the maximum FED of each figure. ρ / ρ max. In all figures, the laser intensity I0 is 5 × 10 12 W / cm 2. The above figures show only parts of the calculation regimes. The concrete moments for each figure are 85, 165, 245, 48, 123, and 187 fs.
Fig. 4 FED distributions for incident lasers with different laser intensity I0: (a) 5 × 10 12, (b) 1.1 × 10 13, and (c) 2.5 × 10 13 W / cm 2. (d)–(f) Corresponding laser field distributions for each intensity I0. The droplet r is 4 μ m. Note that the color map in each figure is different as the color scale represents the relative FED only. The figures show parts of the calculation regimes only. The concrete moments for the three laser intensities are 165, 181, and 139 fs.
Fig. 5 (a) Droplet energy losses Q and (b) energy losses proportion Q / Q t variation with laser intensity for different droplet radii.
Fig. 6 (a) Energy losses of droplet Q and (b) energy loss proportions Q / Q t variation with droplet size for different laser intensities.
Fig. 7 Distribution of FED for two series-connected droplets. For both droplets, r = 4 μ m, and the distance between the two droplet centers is 13 μ m. The laser field propagates from left to right.
Fig. 8 Probability for two arbitrary droplets aligned by series connection variation with beam length l for different water clouds. The droplet size r in Eq. (10) is selected by the model radius of each cloud. The inset is the sketch of two series-connected droplets.
Fig. 9 Size distributions for different water clouds and fog.
Fig. 10 Proportion of the energy losses variation with laser intensity for different water clouds and fog. The energy losses represent the decrease in laser energy after the laser pulse propagates through a cloud of length 1 m.
Fig. 11 Propagation length L variation with laser intensity for different water clouds and fog. Note that the propagation length of fog should be multiplied by 5.

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