Self-visualization and self-inversion effects of objects and structures upon focusing of an illuminating laser beam passing through them into an absorbing air medium

Abstract

It is shown that effects of self-visualization of transparent objects and self-inversion of nontransparent ones are possible when an illuminating beam passing through them is focused into a (weakly) absorbing air medium at the initial stage of the thermal self-action of the beam. A model experiment was carried out in an optically thick cell with air at atmospheric pressure with addition of a small quantity of molecular bromine as a partial radiation absorber. The required power for the implementation of the processes was P = 200 mW at wavelength λ = 0.53 µm.