Lasing and fluorescence of air plasma in presence of an external electric field

doi:10.1088/1674-1056/ade065

Abstract Cavity-free lasing of nitrogen molecules pumped by intense femtosecond laser pulses holds the potential for remote sensing of electric fields. Here we compared the influence of an external direct current (DC) electric field on both the directional lasing radiation and omnidirectional fluorescence emission of neutral nitrogen molecules. It was found that the forward lasing radiation in both pure nitrogen gas and ambient air shows a sensitive dependence on the direction and strength of the DC field, while the fluorescence is not influenced. The effect of pump laser polarization was also investigated. The distinct behavior of the lasing and fluorescence in response to the DC field was attributed to their different dependences on the population distribution of excited nitrogen molecules. This study consolidates the method for standoff detection of electric field with an air lasing effect in the atmosphere.

Keywords: femtosecond filamentation air plasma remote sensing

Received: 28 February 2025
Revised: 22 May 2025
Accepted manuscript online: 04 June 2025

PACS:	31.70.-f	(Effects of atomic and molecular interactions on electronic structure)
	34.50.Gb	(Electronic excitation and ionization of molecules)
	34.90.+q	(Other topics in atomic and molecular collision processes and interactions)
	52.38.-r	(Laser-plasma interactions)

Fund: Project supported by the Natural National Science Foundation of China (Grant Nos. 12034013 and 12204308) and Science and Technology Commission of Shanghai Municipality (Grant No. 22ZR1444100).

Corresponding Authors: Yi Liu
E-mail: yi.liu@usst.edu.cn

Cite this article:

Kai-Lu Wang(王凯璐), Hai-Cheng Mei(梅海城), Liang Xu(许亮), and Yi Liu(刘一) Lasing and fluorescence of air plasma in presence of an external electric field 2025 Chin. Phys. B 34 093101

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Lasing and fluorescence of air plasma in presence of an external electric field

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