The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Mar. 04, 2014
Filed:
Dec. 22, 2011
Phillip A. Sprangle, Great Falls, VA (US);
Joseph R. Penano, Fairfax Station, VA (US);
Marlan O. Scully, Bryan, TX (US);
Daniel F. Gordon, Waldorf, MD (US);
Bahman Hafizi, Bethesda, MD (US);
Phillip A. Sprangle, Great Falls, VA (US);
Joseph R. Penano, Fairfax Station, VA (US);
Marlan O. Scully, Bryan, TX (US);
Daniel F. Gordon, Waldorf, MD (US);
Bahman Hafizi, Bethesda, MD (US);
The United States of America, as represented by the Secretary of the Navy, Washington, DC (US);
Abstract
A laser pulse from an ultrashort pulse laser (USPL) is fired into the atmosphere. The USPL pulse is configured to generate a plasma filament at a predefined target in the atmosphere, in which free, or 'seed,' electrons are generated by multi-photon or tunneling ionization of the air molecules in the filament. A second pulse is fired into the atmosphere to form a heater beam that impinges on the plasma filament and thermalizes the seed electrons within the plasma filament, leading to the collisional excitation of the electrons in the filament. The excited electrons collisionally excite various electronic and vibrational states of the air molecules in the filament, causing population inversions and lasing, e.g., exciting the CΠ→BΠ(v=0→0) transition of the Nin the atmosphere to cause lasing at 337 nm.