Time-resolved electron thermal conduction by probing of plasma formation in transparent solids with high power subpicosecond laser pulses

This dissertation work includes a series of experimental measurements in a search for better understanding of high temperature (104-106K) and high density plasmas (1022-1024cm-3) produced by irradiating a transparent solid target with high intensity (1013 - 1015W/cm2) and subpicosecond (10-12-10-13s) laser pulses. Experimentally, pump and probe schemes with both frontside (vacuum-plasma side) and backside (plasma-bulk material side) probes are used to excite and interrogate or probe the plasma evolution, thereby providing useful insights into the plasma formation mechanisms. A series of different experiments has been carried out so as to characterize plasma parameters and the importance of various nonlinear processes. Experimental evidence shows that electron thermal conduction is supersonic in a time scale of the first picosecond after laser irradiation, so fast that it was often left unresolved in the past. The experimental results from frontside probing demonstrate that upon irradiation with a strong (pump) laser pulse, a thin high temperature (∼40eV) super-critical density (∼1023/cm3) plasma layer is quickly formed at the target surface which in turn becomes strongly reflective and prevents further transmission of the remainder of the laser pulse. In the bulk region behind the surface, it is also found that a large sub-critical (∼1018/cm3) plasma is produced by inverse Bremsstrahlung absorption and collisional ionization. The bulk underdense plasma is evidenced by large absorption of the backside probe light. A simple and analytical model, modified from the avalanche model, for plasma evolution in transparent materials is proposed to explain the experimental results. Elimination of the bulk plasma is then experimentally illustrated by using targets overcoated with highly absorptive films