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Updated: May 25, 2026

Investigation of Early Plasma Evolution Induced by Ultrashort Laser Pulses
Published on: July 2, 2012
Nonequilibrium evolution of strong-field anisotropic ionized electrons towards a delayed plasma-state
B Pasenow1, J V Moloney, S W Koch
1Arizona Center for Mathematical Sciences, Department of Mathematics, University of Arizona, Tucson, Arizona 85721, USA. pasenow@acms.arizona.edu
Abstract:
Rigorous quantum calculations of the femtosecond ionization of hydrogen atoms in air lead to highly anisotropic electron and ion angular (momentum) distributions. A quantum Monte-Carlo analysis of the subsequent many-body dynamics reveals two distinct relaxation steps, first to a nearly isotropic hot nonequilibrium and then to a quasi-equilibrium configuration. The collective isotropic plasma state is reached on a picosecond timescale well after the ultrashort ionizing pulse has passed.
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