Higher-Order Kerr Terms Allow Ionization-Free Filamentation in Gases
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Open Access
- 11 March 2010
- journal article
- research article
- Published by American Physical Society (APS) in Physical Review Letters
- Vol. 104 (10), 103903
- https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.104.103903
Abstract
We show that higher-order nonlinear indices (n(4), n(6), n(8), n(10)) provide the main defocusing contribution to self-channeling of ultrashort laser pulses in air and argon at 800 nm, in contrast with the previously accepted mechanism of filamentation where plasma was considered as the dominant defocusing process. Their consideration allows us to reproduce experimentally observed intensities and plasma densities in self-guided filaments.Keywords
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