Abstract

We have studied the vaporization of atmospheric aerosols. The theory includes the temperature dependence of the thermal conductivity of the air and the resulting nonlinear diffusion equation has been solved analytically. By using Mie scattering and the complex index of refraction for atmospheric aerosols one can find the optimum wavelength and pulse format to clear the aerosols at modest fluence levels. We find that the KrF wavelength leads to the smallest fluence. The size distribution function of the aerosols during vaporization has been calculated and from this one can find the reduction in the aerosol absorption coefficient.¹ The high energy laser wavelength is chosen to minimize molecular absorption near 1 µm. To reduce further the absorption one can use a beam clearing laser at a different wavelength, but at a power level 1-2 orders of magnitude less than the HEL. Such a scenario may resolve the difficult problems related to atmospheric thermal blooming.

© 1989 Optical Society of America