Radiation forces and confinement of neutral particles into the pulse envelope. New regime of collision ionization

Abstract

The aim of this work is to find analytical expressions of the radiation force and potential densities arising from a laser pulse propagating in a dielectric media. In the femtosecond region the force becomes strong enough to confine neutral particles into the pulse envelope and translate them with the group velocity in gases. Additionally, if the trapped particles are with high density, the probability of collision with the free atoms and molecules in air become significant. The collision energies are in the range of 12 - 24 GeV and high enough to ionize the neutral atoms. Thus, a new type of collision ionization can be observed, when powerful femtosecond pulses propagate in gaseous media.