Plasma induced by resonance enhanced multiphoton ionization in inert gas
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abstract
We present a detailed model for the evolution of resonance enhanced multiphoton ionization (REMPI) produced plasma during and after the ionizing laser pulse in inert gas (argon, as an example) at arbitrary pressures. Our theory includes the complete process of the REMPI plasma generation and losses, together with the changing gas thermodynamic parameters. The model shows that the plasma expansion follows a classical ambipolar diffusion and that gas heating results in a weak shock or acoustic wave. The gas becomes involved in the motion not only from the pressure gradient due to the heating, but also from the momentum transfer from the charged particles to gas atoms. The time dependence of the total number of electrons computed in theory matches closely with the results of coherent microwave scattering experiments.
