Kinetics of photoplasma of dense barium vapour

Barium vapour ionisation under laser photoexcitation of the resonance line at a wavelength of λ = 553.5 nm is studied numerically. Seed electrons, arising due to the associative ionisation of atoms, gain energy in superelastic collisions and lead to electron avalanche ionisation of the medium. The influence of radiative transfer in a cylindrical gas volume on the excitation kinetics of barium atoms, absorption dynamics of laser radiation and oscillation of ionisation-brightening wave under competition between ionising and quenching collisions of electrons with excited atoms is studied.