Self-compression by femtosecond pulse filamentation: Experiments versus numerical simulations
Journal Article
·
· Physical Review. E, Statistical Physics, Plasmas, Fluids, and Related Interdisciplinary Topics
- Departement de Physique Theorique et Appliquee, CEA-DAM/Ile de France, B.P. 12, 91680 Bruyeres-le-Chatel (France)
- Max-Born-Institut fuer Nichtlineare Optik und Kurzzeitspektroskopie, Max-Born-Strasse 2a, 12489 Berlin (Germany)
- Institute for Condensed Matter Theory and Solid State Optics, Friedrich-Schiller-Universitaet Jena, Max-Wien-Platz 1, 07743 Jena (Germany)
We analyze pulse self-compression in femtosecond filaments, both experimentally and numerically. We experimentally demonstrate the compression of 45 fs pulses down to a duration of 7.4 fs at millijoule pulse energies. This sixfold compression in a self-generated filament does not require any means for dispersion compensation and is highly efficient. We compare our results to numerical simulations, providing a complete propagation model that accounts for full dispersion, pressure variations, Kerr nonlinearity and plasma generation in multiphoton and tunnel regimes. The equations are numerically integrated and allow for a quantitative comparison with the experiment. Our experiments and numerical simulations reveal a characteristic spectrotemporal structure of the self-compressed pulses, consisting of a compressible blue wing and an incompressible red pedestal. We explain the underlying mechanism that leads to this structure and examine the scalability of filament self-compression with respect to pulse energy and gas pressure.
- OSTI ID:
- 21072356
- Journal Information:
- Physical Review. E, Statistical Physics, Plasmas, Fluids, and Related Interdisciplinary Topics, Journal Name: Physical Review. E, Statistical Physics, Plasmas, Fluids, and Related Interdisciplinary Topics Journal Issue: 5 Vol. 74; ISSN PLEEE8; ISSN 1063-651X
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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