Tight focusing and blue shifting of millijoule femtosecond pulses from a conical axicon amplifier

Journal Article · Tue Nov 01 00:00:00 EST 1988 · Opt. Lett.; (United States)

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1364/OL.13.000984· OSTI ID:7011740

Wood, W M; Focht, G; Downer, M C

We focus millijoule femtosecond pulses to a spot radius of 2 ..mu..m after amplification free of phase-front distortion in a Nd:YAG-pumped conical axicon dye cell. Peak focal intensities reach 10/sup 16/ W/cm/sup 2/, creating an intense spark that is caused by air breakdown at the focus. Intensity-dependent blue shifts of the pulse spectrum as large as 11 nm are observed as a result of temporally asymmetric self-phase modulation in the air-breakdown plasma.

• Research Organization: Physics Department, University of Texas at Austin, Austin, Texas 78712
• OSTI ID: 7011740
• Journal Information: Opt. Lett.; (United States), Vol. 13:11
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

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420300* - Engineering- Lasers- (-1989)