Anomalous transparency at 1064 nm of a freely expanding gas cylinder in vacuum during fast electric explosion of thin metal wires

Abstract

Laser shadowgrams of exploding metal wires in a vacuum show the anomalous transparency of a completely evaporated wire core for a probe beam with a wavelength of 1064 nm. Simultaneous shadowgrams at 532 nm show significant light attenuation. The anomalous transparency for laser radiation at a wavelength of 1064 nm is highly likely due to the Rayleigh scattering of the probing beam by metal atoms. Our experimental results can be explained under the assumption of a strongly non-equilibrium state of an expanding gas cylinder with a non-uniform density.