Creating plasma in nitrogen

[greenev363]

Would anyone know or happen to be able direct me to some information:

How would I create a glowing plasmoid in the air using a 1 watt 808 nm diode laser?

Essentially I am converting the nitrogen in the air into a plasma using a 1watt 808nm diode laser focused to a point.

Now is there anyway to pulse this laser the same way a qswitch would pulse a yag laser?
Or is it possible to create a light emitting plasmoid using the 808 itself?

Any information on this would be helpful.

[fk08]

as far as i know one needs amplified ultra-short pulses to generate a plasma jet. which means something like 4 Watt at 3 khZ and 30 fs pulse length. with this parameter you should easy get a plasma within the focus of the laser. a diode laser with ns pulse length or so shouldnt work.

[greenev363]

I'm looking for specific values such as how many watts per mm3 from an 808 nm diode laser, pulsed at whatever rate is required to induce a plasma within the available nitrogen in typical cubic mm of air. This plasmoid has to be visible.
Or are there other easier ways such as a different type of laser, however, I currently have the 808 and I would like to stick with it.

[fk08]

To produce a plasma you need electric fields that are high enough to ionize the matter. from that point you can calculate back the parameters of the beam.