Fog dispersal by CO_2 laser pulses: an exact solution including prevaporization heating

The coupled nonlinear equations governing the transmission of a collimated high-energy laser beam through a fog are solved analytically. The incident radiation is assumed to be of sufficient intensity to vaporize the droplets in the path of the beams, thus enabling a greater percentage than without vaporization of the incident energy to be transmitted. Prevaporization heating is included in the treatment, and the vaporization front provides a moving boundary condition for the solution. The initial laser intensity and aerosol density are taken to be arbitrary functions of time and position, respectively; Effects of scattering, molecular absorption, and heat conduction are ignored.