Low-threshold optical discharge in a disperse aerosol medium

An experimental investigation was made of the collective influence of a set of aerosol particles in a medium on the initiation of a low-threshold optical discharge in an Nd laser beam. It was established that the threshold intensities for discharge excitation did not exceed 10 MW/cm² for a laser pulse duration of ~1 msec. It was observed that initiation of an optical discharge depended on the concentration of aerosol particles in the medium. Investigations were made of the characteristics of the excited laser plasma and a model of the phenomenon was proposed.