Femtosecond filament initiated, microwave heated cavity-free nitrogen laser in air

We present the results of numerical modeling of the igniter-heater concept for initiation of standoff, cavity free lasing action in the atmosphere when a femtosecond laser filament is used for plasma generation (igniter) and a microwave heater provides electron-collision pumping of electronic states in molecular nitrogen. By solving numerically the kinetic equation for the energy distribution function of electrons, generated in a femtosecond laser filament and heated by a microwave beam, we identify the conditions enabling single-pass, standoff UV-laser from molecular nitrogen in the atmosphere. The plasma density, the minimum amplitude of the microwave field, and the small-signal gain, necessary to achieve the lasing, are determined. We demonstrate that lasing build up time can be minimized and efficiency improved by using elliptically polarized laser pulses for filamentation. It is shown that realization of the filament-igniter, microwave-heater concept of the sky laser at low altitudes would require a microwave source of hundreds of kilowatt-megawatt power. The required microwave power can be reduced by several orders of magnitude when the igniter-heater scheme is used at the 10-30 km range of altitudes.