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Updated: Jul 22, 2026

Investigation of Early Plasma Evolution Induced by Ultrashort Laser Pulses
Published on: July 2, 2012
Blast waves produced by interactions of femtosecond laser pulses with water
1Laboratory of Optical Physics, Institute of Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100080, People's Republic of China.
Abstract:
The behaviors of the blast waves produced by femtosecond laser-water interactions, and the blast waves induced by laser self-focusing in air, have been investigated using optical shadowgraphy at a maximum intensity of 1 x 10(16) W/cm(2). The temporal evolution of the blast wave launched by the water plasma can be described by a planar blast wave model including source mass. An aneurismlike structure, due to the quick propagation inside a hollow channel formed by laser self-focusing, is observed. The expansion of the channel in air is found to agree with a cylindrical self-similar blast wave solution.
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