PLASMA EXPANSION UNDER HEATING BY A CO2 LASER PULSE

Abstract

This paper treats the expansion of a gas breakdown plasma produced in argon by the focused radiation from a high‐voltage transient‐pumped CO₂ laser. With the long pulses attainable from such pulsed CO₂ lasers, a transition is observed in the mechanism of expansion from a radiation‐driven detonation to a thermal expansion. The implications of this observation for CO₂ laser heating of plasmas are discussed.