Vortices in the wake of a femtosecond laser filament

Anton Ryabtsev, Shahram Pouya, Manoochehr Koochesfahani, Marcos Dantus
2014 Optics Express  
We report on the experimental observation of fluid flow caused by propagation of femtosecond filaments in dry air. We find that the ionization of the medium deposits a non-negligible amount of heat, which creates vortices in a semi-confined glass cylinder. We confirm the influence of thermal gradients on vortex formation by the use of a heated wire in a similar configuration.
doi:10.1364/oe.22.026098 pmid:25401642 fatcat:4qc327grtvd6femmpt52uzv2ji