Large laser sparks for laboratory simulation of high-energy-density events in planetary atmospheres

Single ≤1 kJ pulses from a high-power laser are focused into molecular gases to create large laser sparks. This provides a unique way to mimic the chemical effects of high-energy-density events in planetary atmospheres (cometary impact, lightning) matching the natural energy-density, its spatio-temporal evolution and plasma-volume scaling of such events in a fully-controlled laboratory environment. Some chemical reactions initiated by laser-induced dielectric breakdown (LIDB) in both pure molecular gases and mixtures related to the chemical evolution of the Earth's early atmosphere were studied. Most of the experiments were carried out in a static gas cell. However, an initial series of experiments was also performed with a gas-puff target placed within a vacuum interaction chamber. Under these dynamic conditions the hot core of a laser spark can be directly investigated.

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