Title :
Break-up, coalescence and self-guiding of femtosecond laser pulses in air
Author :
Couairon, A. ; Berge, L. ; Tzortzakis, S. ; Franco, M. ; Chiron, A. ; Lamouroux, B. ; Andre, Y.-B. ; Prade, B. ; Mysyrowicz, A.
Author_Institution :
Commissariat a l´Energie Atom., Bruyeres-le-Chatel, France
Abstract :
Femtosecond laser pulses propagating in air are investigated. For input powers as high as 25 times the self-focusing threshold, the pulses are shown to break up into two spots, which coalesce into a self-guided beam.
Keywords :
Schrodinger equation; laser beams; multiphoton processes; optical Kerr effect; optical pulse shaping; optical solitons; Kerr filamentation; Kerr regime; break-up; coalescence; electron plasma generation; femtosecond laser pulses in air; global dynamics; infrared pulses; modulational instability; nonlinear Schrodinger model; robust filament; self-focusing threshold; self-guiding; Electron beams; Ionization; Laser beams; Laser modes; Nonlinear optics; Optical propagation; Optical pulses; Power lasers; Pulse modulation; Ultrafast optics;
Conference_Titel :
Nonlinear Optics: Materials, Fundamentals, and Applications, 2000. Technical Digest
Conference_Location :
Kaua´i-Lihue, HI, USA
Print_ISBN :
1-55752-646-X
DOI :
10.1109/NLO.2000.883653
