Experimental Tests of the New Paradigm for Laser Filamentation in Gases

被引：75

作者：

Polynkin, Pavel ^{[1
]}

Kolesik, Miroslav ^{[1
]}

Wright, Ewan M. ^{[1
]}

Moloney, Jerome V. ^{[1
]}

机构：

[1] Univ Arizona, Coll Opt Sci, Tucson, AZ 85721 USA

来源：

PHYSICAL REVIEW LETTERS | 2011年 / 106卷 / 15期

关键词：

FEMTOSECOND FILAMENTATION; AIR; PULSES; GENERATION;

D O I：

10.1103/PhysRevLett.106.153902

中图分类号：

O4 [物理学];

学科分类号：

0702 ;

摘要：

Since their discovery in the mid-1990s, ultrafast laser filaments in gases have been described as products of a dynamic balance between Kerr self-focusing and defocusing by free electric charges that are generated via multiphoton ionization on the beam axis. This established paradigm has been recently challenged by a suggestion that the Kerr effect saturates and even changes sign at high intensity of light and that this sign reversal, not free-charge defocusing, is the dominant mechanism responsible for the extended propagation of laser filaments. We report qualitative tests of the new theory based on electrical and optical measurements of plasma density in femtosecond laser filaments. Our results consistently support the established paradigm.

引用

收藏

页数：4

相关论文

共 22 条

[1] White-light continuum generation and filamentation during the propagation of ultra-short laser pulses in air [J].

Aközbek, N ;

Scalora, M ;

Bowden, CM ;

Chin, SL .

OPTICS COMMUNICATIONS, 2001, 191 (3-6) :353-362

[2] Higher-Order Kerr Terms Allow Ionization-Free Filamentation in Gases [J].

Bejot, P. ;

Kasparian, J. ;

Henin, S. ;

Loriot, V. ;

Vieillard, T. ;

Hertz, E. ;

Faucher, O. ;

Lavorel, B. ;

Wolf, J. -P. .

PHYSICAL REVIEW LETTERS, 2010, 104 (10)

[3] Ultrashort filaments of light in weakly ionized, optically transparent media [J].

Berge, L. ;

Skupin, S. ;

Nuter, R. ;

Kasparian, J. ;

Wolf, J-P .

REPORTS ON PROGRESS IN PHYSICS, 2007, 70 (10) :1633-1713

[4] Temporal Self-Restoration of Compressed Optical Filaments [J].

Berge, L. ;

Skupin, S. ;

Steinmeyer, G. .

PHYSICAL REVIEW LETTERS, 2008, 101 (21)

[5] SELF-CHANNELING OF HIGH-PEAK-POWER FEMTOSECOND LASER-PULSES IN AIR [J].

BRAUN, A ;

KORN, G ;

LIU, X ;

DU, D ;

SQUIER, J ;

MOUROU, G .

OPTICS LETTERS, 1995, 20 (01) :73-75

[6] Rotational Raman effects in the wake of optical filamentation [J].

Calegari, F. ;

Vozzi, C. ;

Gasilov, S. ;

Benedetti, E. ;

Sansone, G. ;

Nisoli, M. ;

De Silvestri, S. ;

Stagira, S. .

PHYSICAL REVIEW LETTERS, 2008, 100 (12)

[7] Direct Measurement of the Electron Density of Extended Femtosecond Laser Pulse-Induced Filaments [J].

Chen, Y. -H. ;

Varma, S. ;

Antonsen, T. M. ;

Milchberg, H. M. .

PHYSICAL REVIEW LETTERS, 2010, 105 (21)

[8] Femtosecond filamentation in transparent media [J].

Couairon, A. ;

Mysyrowicz, A. .

PHYSICS REPORTS-REVIEW SECTION OF PHYSICS LETTERS, 2007, 441 (2-4) :47-189

[9] Dynamics of femtosecond filamentation from saturation of self-focusing laser pulses [J].

Couairon, A .

PHYSICAL REVIEW A, 2003, 68 (01) :4

[10] Conical forward THz emission from femtosecond-laser-beam filamentation in air [J].

D'Amico, C. ;

Houard, A. ;

Franco, M. ;

Prade, B. ;

Mysyrowicz, A. ;

Couairon, A. ;

Tikhonchuk, V. T. .

PHYSICAL REVIEW LETTERS, 2007, 98 (23)