Plasma absorption evidence via chirped pulse spectral transmission measurements

This work aims at highlighting the plasma generation dynamics and absorption when a Bessel beam propagates in glass. We developed a simple diagnostics allowing us to retrieve clear indications of the formation of the plasma in the material, thanks to transmission measurements in the angular and wavelength domains. This technique featured by the use of a single chirped pulse having the role of pump and probe simultaneously leads to results showing the plasma nonlinear absorption effect on the trailing part of the pulse, thanks to the spectral-temporal correspondence in the measured signal, which is also confirmed by numerical simulations. (C) 2015 AIP Publishing LLC.