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Filament-Initiated Lasing in Neutral Molecular Nitrogen

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Air Lasing

Part of the book series: Springer Series in Optical Sciences ((SSOS,volume 208))

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Abstract

Modern optical spectroscopy of the atmosphere at high altitudes relies primarily on the powerful and well-established LIDAR technique. A ground-based (or air−/space-borne) laser source is used for standoff linear measurements of the scattering characteristics of molecular, atomic, or particle species in the air in different scattering regimes (Rayleigh, Mie, spontaneous Raman). The incoherent nature of the scattered field measured in the backward direction sets practical limitation on the tracing distance, spatial resolution, and the species-dependent sensitivity threshold. The possibility of standoff initiation of a coherent source of backward-directed radiation in the sky would enable application of different methods of nonlinear optics, such as stimulated Raman scattering, CARS, etc., for the highly sensitive and highly selective spectroscopy of the atmosphere at high altitudes (Hemmer et al. PNAS 108, 3130, 2011; Yuan et al. Laser Phys. Lett. 8, 736, 2011) with (potentially) significantly larger detection range and finer spatial resolution. One of the possibilities to initiate such standoff coherent source of radiation in the atmosphere can be provided by achieving population inversion and laser generation in one of the two main atmospheric constituents, nitrogen (≈78% concentration) and oxygen (≈21% concentration). In principle, both gases allow population inversion and laser generation.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Friedrich-Schiller University Jena, Max-Wien-Platz 1, 07743, Jena, Germany

    Daniil Kartashov

  2. Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ, 08544-5263, USA

    Mikhail N. Shneider

  3. Photonics Institute, Vienna University of Technology, Gusshausstrasse 27-387, A-1040, Vienna, Austria

    Andrius Baltuska

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  1. Daniil Kartashov
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  2. Mikhail N. Shneider
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  3. Andrius Baltuska
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Correspondence to Daniil Kartashov .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. College of Optical Sciences, University of Arizona, Tucson, Arizona, USA

    Pavel Polynkin

  2. Shanghai Institute of Optics and Fine Mechanics, East China Normal University, Shanghai, China

    Ya Cheng

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Kartashov, D., Shneider, M.N., Baltuska, A. (2018). Filament-Initiated Lasing in Neutral Molecular Nitrogen. In: Polynkin, P., Cheng, Y. (eds) Air Lasing. Springer Series in Optical Sciences, vol 208. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-65220-7_5

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