Prolongation of the lifetime of guided discharges triggered in atmospheric air by femtosecond laser filaments up to 130 <i>μ</i>s

Abstract

The triggering and guiding of electric discharges produced in atmospheric air by a compact 100 kV Marx generator is realized in laboratory using an intense femtosecond laser pulse undergoing filamentation. We describe here an approach allowing extending the lifetime of the discharges by injecting a current with an additional circuit. Laser guiding discharges with a length of 8.5 cm and duration of 130 μs were obtained.