Filamentation of terawatt laser pulses along hundred-meter atmospheric paths

Results of the experimental study of filamentation of terawatt femtosecond pulses of a Ti:Sapphire laser along an atmospheric path 106 m long using different spatial focusing and pulse power are presented. The control of filamentation region position and length by means of changing the initial laser beam focusing is shown to be highly effective. Dependencies are derived of filamentation region position and length on the initial degree of focusing, pulse power, and the number of filaments along the filamentation region. The obtained data on the filamentation region length and the number of filaments are compared with the results of our previous experiments and data from other authors.