Effects of higher-order Kerr nonlinearity and plasma diffraction on multiple filamentation of ultrashort laser pulses in air

Journal Article · Mon Jul 15 00:00:00 EDT 2013 · Physics of Plasmas

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1063/1.4816699· OSTI ID:22227930

Huang, T. W. ^[1]; Zhou, C. T. ^[1]; Zhang, H. ^[2]; He, X. T. ^[1]

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1. HEDPS, Center for Applied Physics and Technology, Peking University, Beijing 100871 (China)
2. Institute of Applied Physics and Computational Mathematics, Beijing 100094 (China)

The effect of higher-order Kerr nonlinearity on channel formation by, and filamentation of, ultrashort laser pulses propagating in air is considered. Filament patterns originating from multiphoton ionization of the air molecules with and without the higher-order Kerr and molecular-rotation effects are investigated. It is found that diverging multiple filaments are formed if only the plasma-induced defocusing effect is included. In the presence of the higher-order Kerr effects, the light channel can exist for a long distance. The effect of noise on the filament patterns is also discussed.

• OSTI ID: 22227930
• Journal Information: Physics of Plasmas, Vol. 20, Issue 7; Other Information: (c) 2013 AIP Publishing LLC; Country of input: International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA); ISSN 1070-664X
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY
74 ATOMIC AND MOLECULAR PHYSICS
AIR
DIFFRACTION
KERR EFFECT
LASER-PRODUCED PLASMA
LASERS
MOLECULES
MULTI-PHOTON PROCESSES
NONLINEAR PROBLEMS
PHOTOIONIZATION
PHOTON-MOLECULE COLLISIONS
PLASMA
PLASMA FILAMENT
PULSES
VISIBLE RADIATION