Generation of Nitrogen Emission Line at 337 nm in the Laboratory and at High Altitudes

This paper consists of two parts. In the first part, the emission was generated in air, and the waveform recording the spectral line at 337 nm (= prominent N2 laser line) was noted. The pulse forming network (PFN) Marx generator having a large (50 Ω) internal impedance was used. The pulses of the nitrogen emission at 337.1 nm of long (<;3 μs) duration and of short (≈10 ns) duration were obtained. The photodiode registered both the spontaneous emission and the stimulated (laser) emission in the 337 ± 5 nm spectral range. The data show that the laser emission predominates in the pulses of long duration. In the second part of this paper, it is suggested that the ultraviolet (UV) radiations emitted by the sun, together with the electric fields present at high altitudes, are capable of exciting the N
₂
molecules to the upper excited C
³
Πu level to yield the laser emission of long duration. On the basis of the laser energy content dissipated into the plasma, the size of the transient luminous events (TLEs) known as the elves and the sprites was evaluated. The dynamics of initially small size, highly compressed, and very hot plasma formed inside the sprite was presented. It is proposed that the TLEs named “crepuscular twilight in the sky of New York” observed on December 28, 2018; “mysterious bright flash” occurred in Russia on January 9, 2018; and maybe the Tunguska event happened in Siberia on the morning of June 30, 1908 should be included in the list of the TLEs.