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Experimental Tests of the New Paradigm for Laser Filamentation in Gases
- Source :
- Physical Review Letters. 106
- Publication Year :
- 2011
- Publisher :
- American Physical Society (APS), 2011.
-
Abstract
- 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 multi-photon 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 in air and argon. Our results consistently support the established paradigm.<br />4 pages, 4 figures
- Subjects :
- Physics
Kerr effect
business.industry
FOS: Physical sciences
Physics::Optics
General Physics and Astronomy
Laser
Electric charge
Physics - Plasma Physics
law.invention
Plasma Physics (physics.plasm-ph)
Optics
Filamentation
law
Ionization
Femtosecond
business
Self-phase modulation
Ultrashort pulse
Optics (physics.optics)
Physics - Optics
Subjects
Details
- ISSN :
- 10797114 and 00319007
- Volume :
- 106
- Database :
- OpenAIRE
- Journal :
- Physical Review Letters
- Accession number :
- edsair.doi.dedup.....e2a016fc50b26d176badcadb395f63a3