Abstract
We investigated the possibility of Sommerfeld surface waves to propagate along a conducting plasma channel produced by the filamentation of ultrafast laser pulses in air. Using the approximation of a homogenous cylindrical wire of laser plasma filaments, the phase velocity and the propagation loss of different wire configurations are calculated. The phase velocity of the propagating wave proved to be close to the speed of laser pulses, which makes attaching to such instantaneous plasma channel feasible over distances in the order of the filament length. Wire diameter, electron density and operating frequency are appearing to influence the attaching distances and propagation loss. The attenuation of the propagating wave along the plasma wire appears to be lower than that of free space over some distances in the order of the filamentation length, which opens exciting perspectives for short distance point to point wireless transmission of pulsed-modulated microwaves.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
A. Sommerfeld, Ann. der Physik und Chemie 67, 233 (1899)
V.N. Datsko, A.A. Kopylov, UFN 178(1), 109 (2008)
H. Cao, A. Nahata, Opt. Express 13(18), 7028 (2005)
A. Sommerfeld, Electrodynamics (Academic, New York, 1952)
J.A. Stratton, Electromagnetic theory (McGraw-Hill, New York, 1941)
E. G. Elmore, Surface wave transmission system over a single conductor having e-fields terminating along the conductor, U.S. 7,567,154 B2, 2009
E. G. Elmore, Method and apparatus for launching a surface wave onto a single conductor transmission line using a slotted flared cone, U.S. 7,009,471 B2, 2006
A. Brodeur, C.Y. Chien, F.A. Ilkov, S.L. Chin, O.G. Kosareva, V.P. Kandidov, Opt. Lett. 22, 304 (1997)
T.F. Francis, W. Liu, P.T. Simard, A. Becker, S.L. Chin, Phys. Rev. E 74, 036406 (2006)
H. Yang, J. Zhang, Y. Li, J. Zhang, Y. Li, Z. Chen, H. Teng, Z. Wei, Z. Sheng, Phys. Rev. 66, 016406 (2002)
S. Tzortzakis, S.M. Franco, Y.-B. Andre, A. Chiron, B. Lamouroux, B.S. Prade, A. Mysyrowicz, Phys. Rev. E 60, R3505 (1999)
Z.Q. Hao, J. Zhang, Z. Zhang, X. Yuan, Z. Zheng, X. Lu, Z. Jin, Z. Wang, J. Zhong, J. Zhong, Y. Liu, Phys. Rev. E 74, 066402 (2006)
T. Anderson, Plasma antenna (Artech house, London, 2011)
R. Ackermann, G. Mejean, J. Kasparian, J. Yu, E. Salmon, J.P. Wolf, Opt. Lett. 31, 86–88 (2006)
G. Mechain, G. Mejean, R. Ackermann, P. Rohwetter, Y.B. Andre, J. Kasparian, B. Prade, K. Stelmaszczyk, J. Yu, E. Salmon, W. Winn, L.A. Schlie, A. Mysyrowicz, R. Sauerbrey, L. Woste, J.-P. Wolf, Appl. Phys. B Lasers Opt. 80, 785–789 (2005)
G. Mejean, J. Kasparian, J. Yu, E. Salmon, S. Frey, J.P. Wolf, S. Skupin, A. Vincotte, R. Nuter, S. Champeaux, L. Berge, Phys. Rev. E 72, 026611 (2005)
F. Courvoisier, V. Boutou, J. Kasparian, E. Salmon, G. Mejean, J. Yu, J. Yu, J.P. Wolf, Appl. Phys. Lett. 83, 213–215 (2003)
S. Skupin, L. Bergé, U. Peschel, F. Lederer, Phys. Rev. Lett. 93, 023901 (2004)
M. Chateauneuf, S. Payeur, J. Dubois, J.-C. Kieffer, Appl. Phys. Lett. 92, 091104 (2008)
H. Nowakowska, Z. Zakrzewski, M. Moisan, J. Phys. D Appl. Phys. 34, 1474 (2001)
M.J. Keskinen, R. Fernsier, H.D. Ladouceur, A.P. Baronavski, P.W. Grounds, P.G. Girardi, Phys. Plasmas 8(12), 5077–5080 (2001)
M. Alshershby, J.Q. Lin, Z.Q. Hao, J. Phys. D Appl. Phys. 43, 065102 (2012)
G. Goubau, J. Appl. Phys. 21, 1119 (1950)
S. Stephen, J. Appl. Phys. 22, 504–509 (1951)
L. Berge, S. Skupin, R. Nuter, J. Kasparian, J.-P. Wolf, Rep. Prog. Phys. 70, 1633–1713 (2007)
R.R. Musin, M.N. Shneider, A.M. Zheltikov, R.B. Miles, Appl. Opt. 46, 5593 (2007)
A.L. Peratt, Physics of the plasma universe (Springer, New York, 1991)
V. L. Ginzburg, Propagation of electromagnetic waves in plasma (Gordon and Breach, 1997)
V.V. Valuev, A.E. Dormidonov, V.P. Kandidov, S.A. Shlenov, V.N. Kornienko, V.A. Cherepenin, J. Comm, Technol. Electron. 55, 208 (2010)
V.P. Kandidov, A.E. Dormidonov, O.G. Kosareva, N. Akozbek, M. Scalora, S.L. Chin, Appl. Phys. B Lasers Opt. 87, 29 (2007)
A. E. Dormidonov, V. V. Valuev, V. L. Dmitriev, S. A. Shlenov, V. P. Kandidov, Proc. SPIE 6733, 67332S-1(2007)
F. Mitschke, Fiber optics physics and technology (Springer, Berlin, 2009)
S. Henin et al., Appl. Phys. B Lasers Opt. 100, 77 (2010)
D. Hondros, Ann. Phys. 30, 905 (1909)
J.A. Stratton, Electromagnetic theory (IEEE Press, New York, 2007)
T.-I. Jeon, J. Zhang, D. Grischkowsky, Appl. Phys. Lett. 86, 161904 (2005)
Z.Q. Hao, J. Zhang, Y.T. Li, X. Lu, X.H. Yuan, Z.Y. Zheng, Z.H. Wang, W.J. Ling, Z.Y. Wei, Appl. Phys. B Laser Opt. 80, 627 (2005)
B.L. Fontaine, F. Vidal, Z. Jiang, C.Y. Chien, D. Comtois, A. Desparois, T.W. Johnston, J.-C. Kieffer, H. Pépin, H.P. Mercure, Phys. Plasmas 6, 1615 (1999)
G. Goubau, IRE transaction on microwave theory and techniques 4, 197–200 (1956)
D.M. Pozar, Microwave engineering, 3rd edn. (Wiley, New York, 2004)
D. C. Friedman, Technical report ARWSE-TR-09004, U.S. Army Armament Research (2009)
Acknowledgments
This project was supported by National Natural Science Foundation of China under Grant Nos. 60978014, 11074027 and 61178022. Funds from Science and Technology, Department of Jilin Province, Grant No. 20111812, basic fund No. 9140c150302110c1501 and the project-sponsored by SRF for ROCS, SEM.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Alshershby, M., Lin, J. & Hao, Z. Modeling of Sommerfeld surface waves propagating on a single wire of laser plasma filaments. Appl. Phys. B 108, 859–866 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00340-012-5170-y
Received:
Revised:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00340-012-5170-y