Research Investigation of the Mechanisms Associated with Gas Breakdown under Intense Optical Illumination

摘要

The Research Laboratories of the United Aircraft Corporation are conducting under the subject contract an experimental and theoretical study of the physical processes leading to the ionization of gases by intense optical radiation. The high-intensity beam from a Q-spoiled ruby or neodymium laser is focused by a lens and used to cause electrical breakdown in a test gas. The production of ionization is examined as a function of the laser beam intensity, gas type, pressure, volume within which the breakdown occurs, and frequency, of the radiation.