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Propagation of femtosecond terawatt laser pulses in N2 gas including higher-order Kerr effects

Authors :
T. W. Huang
C. T. Zhou
X. T. He
Source :
AIP Advances, Vol 2, Iss 4, Pp 042190-042190-8 (2012)
Publication Year :
2012
Publisher :
AIP Publishing LLC, 2012.

Abstract

Propagation characteristic of femtosecond terawatt laser pulses in N2 gas with higher-order Kerr effect (HOKE) is investigated. Theoretical analysis shows that HOKE acting as Hamiltonian perturbation can destroy the coherent structure of a laser field and result in the appearance of incoherent patterns. Numerical simulations show that in this case two different types of complex structures can appear. It is found that the high-order focusing terms in HOKE can cause continuous phase shift and off-axis evolution of the laser fields when irregular homoclinic orbit crossings of the field in phase space take place. As the laser propagates, small-scale spatial structures rapidly appear and the evolution of the laser field becomes chaotic. The two complex patterns can switch between each other quasi-periodically. Numerical results show that the two complex patterns are associated with the stochastic evolution of the energy contained in the higher-order shorter-wavelength Fourier modes. Such complex patterns, associated with small-scale filaments, may be typical for laser propagation in a HOKE medium.

Subjects

Subjects :
Physics
QC1-999

Details

Language :
English
ISSN :
21583226
Volume :
2
Issue :
4
Database :
Directory of Open Access Journals
Journal :
AIP Advances
Publication Type :
Academic Journal
Accession number :
edsdoj.1d9ee519e07b4df2b7dc98d931a071cf
Document Type :
article
Full Text :
https://doi.org/10.1063/1.4773324