Numerical investigation of the threshold intensity dependence on gas pressure in the breakdown of xenon by different laser wavelengths

We report a theoretical analysis of the measurements that carried out to study the breakdown of xenon gas over a wide pressure range induced by laser source operating at different wavelengths. The study provided an investigation of the effect of laser wavelength as well as gas pressure on the physical processes associated with this phenomenon. To this aim a modified electron cascade model is applied. The model based on the numerical solution of the time dependent Boltzmann equation for the electron energy distribution function (EEDF) simultaneously with a set of rate equations which describe the rate of change of the formed excited states population. Comparison between the calculated and measured threshold intensities for the experimentally tested laser wavelengths and gas pressure range is obtained. Furthermore computations of the EEDF and its parameters showed the actual correlation between the gain and loss processes which determine the threshold breakdown intensity of xenon and the two experimentally tested parameters; laser wavelength and gas pressure