Abstract
The present paper displays a numerical study on the role of electron dynamics in relation to the dependence of the threshold intensity on the pressure in the breakdown of gases by laser radiation. The analysis aimed to find out the origin of the steep slope observed in the measurements of threshold intensity against gas pressure in the breakdown of Kr induced by an excimer laser source (Opt. Commun. 13:66-68, 1997). The experiment was carried out using wavelength 248 nm and pulse width of 18 ns for a gas pressure range 4.5-300 torr. The investigation centered on an adaptation of our previously developed electron cascade model given in Evans and Gamal (J. Phys. D Appl. Phys. 13:1447-1458, 1980). This model solves numerically a time-dependent energy equation simultaneously with a set of rate equations that describe the change of the population of the formed excited states. The modifications introduced into the model the realistic structure of the krypton gas atom as well as electron diffusion as a loss process to inspect the experimentally tested low-pressure regime. A computer program is undertaken to determine the breakdown threshold intensity as a function of gas pressure. Reasonable agreement is obtained between the calculated thresholds and measured ones, corresponding to the examined pressure range. This agreement validates the applicability of the model. The relationship between the role of the physical mechanisms and gas pressure is studied by analyzing the EEDF and its parameters at selected pressure values that cover the experimentally tested range. The result of this study clarified that electron diffusion out of the focal region is responsible for the steep slope of the threshold intensities for pressures <75 torr. For higher pressures (75-300 torr), collisional excitation of ground-state atoms followed by their ionization via multiphoton and collisional processes acts to convert the Kr gas in the interaction region into the state of breakdown. Investigation of the temporal of the EEDF for the selected pressure values showed non-Maxwellian distribution as well as determined the time and energy region at which breakdown is formed.