Numerical Investigation on the Influence of Water Vapor Ionization on the Dynamic and Energy Deposition of Femtosecond Ultraviolet Laser Filamentation in Air

The effects of water vapor ionization on the nonlinear propagation of femtosecond laser pulses with a 248 nm wavelength are numerically investigated in this paper. It is found that ionization of H2O molecules plays a significant role in air ionization, which seriously affects the dynamic and energy deposition of filamentation. The propagation of femtosecond pulses in air with different humidity levels are compared. The total number of electrons and total deposited pulse energy increase with the humidity increases. However, they tend to be saturated in high humidity conditions. Results presented here are conducive to characterizing the long-range propagation of filaments under atmospheric conditions.

Dusty plasma processes in Earth's polar summer mesosphere

A self-consistent model for the description of dusty plasma structures, such as noctilucent clouds (NLC) and polar mesosphere summer echoes (PMSE), which are frequently grouped together under the common term polar mesospheric clouds, is presented. The model takes into account the processes of condensation of water vapor, ionization, recombination, action of solar radiation, sedimentation, dust particle growth, dust particle charging, electric fields, etc. Using the model, we explain the basic data of observations on the behavior of charged component in polar summer mesosphere. Furthermore, we show the influence of initial distributions of fine particles as well as that of the processes of condensation and water molecule absorption by fine particles on the formation of NLC and PMSE. We also illustrate the possibility of the formation of layered structure and sharp boundaries of NLC.