Laser plasma channel formation in barium vapor based on superelastic heating of electrons

Computational study of plasma channel formation kinetics in optically dense barium vapor irradiated by pulsed laser light tuned to the Ba I resonance transition at λ = 553.5 nm has been performed. Seed electrons are produced due to the mechanism of atoms associative ionization, which then gain energy in superelastic collisions and initiate the avalanche ionization of atoms by electron impact. We have studied the influence of radiative transfer effects in cylindrically symmetric gas volume on the excitation kinetics of multilevel barium atoms, dynamics of absorption of laser radiation, and the plasma channel expansion in the form of a halo in condition of competition between the ionizing and quenching electron collisions with excited atoms. (paper)