The analysis of the RF response of a solid wire excited by a focused laser beam

The solution is presented for the current excited on a solid cylindrical wire with a flat endcap which is excited by a short current filament oriented parallel to the wire axis and located on or near the endcap surface. This wire/source geometry has become of interest as a result of experimental findings in which transient source filaments have been excited on metal targets due to the incidence of a high-power short-pulse laser beam. Steady-state solutions are developed which show the basic characteristics of the responses and their dependence on critical wire and source parameters. Transient responses also are presented and shown to exhibit excellent agreement with measured results.