Interaction of Ultrashort Laser Pulses with Atoms in Plasmas

Abstract

The paper is devoted to the investigation of the absorption of ultrashort laser pulses on atoms in plasmas, accounting for the different broadening mechanisms of atomic resonant transitions. The analysis is made in terms of the absorption probability during the entire interaction between the laser pulse and atom. Attention is mainly given to dependence of probability upon the pulse duration and the carrier frequency of the pulse. The results are presented via dimensionless parameters and functions describing the effect of finite pulse duration on atomic spectra for different broadening mechanisms, namely Doppler, Voigt, Holtsmark and their combinations, as well as the Stark line broadening of Rydberg atomic lines.

Keywords

• ultra-short laser pulse
• photo-absorption
• spectral line shape
• Stark broadening