Acoustic characteristics of laser breakdown in transparent insulators

An investigation is made of a compression wave traveling from the source of laser breakdown in a transparent insulator. It is shown that at large distances from the source the wave structure is governed by the conditions of its formation and it is related to the energy characteristics of the source and properties of matter; a study of the wave structure can give information on the wave source. An experimental investigation is reported of the space and time structure of a compression wave as a function of the distance from the source of laser breakdown and energy of the initiating radiation. A theoretical model is developed for the formation of an acoustic wave in this case. The experimental and theoretical results are compared and it is shown that they are in qualitative and quantitative agreement.