Energy deposition from focused terawatt laser pulses in air undergoing multifilamentation

Laser filamentation is responsible for the deposition of a significant part of the laser pulse energy in the propagation medium. We found that using terawatt laser pulses and relatively tight focusing conditions in air, resulting in a bundle of co-propagating multifilaments, more than 60 % of the pulses energy is transferred to the medium, eventually degrading into heat. This results in a strong hydrodynamic reaction of air with the generation of shock waves and associated underdense channels for each short-scale filament. In the focal zone, where filaments are close to each other, these discrete channels eventually merge to form a single cylindrical low-density tube over a $\sim 1 \mu\mathrm{s}$ timescale. We measured the maximum lineic deposited energy to be more than 1 J/m.Comment: 7 pages, 7 figure

Study of ortho-to-paraexciton conversion in Cu2_2O by excitonic Lyman spectroscopy

Using time-resolved $1s$-$2p$ excitonic Lyman spectroscopy, we study the orthoexciton-to-paraexcitons transfer, following the creation of a high density population of ultracold $1s$ orthoexcitons by resonant two-photon excitation with femtosecond pulses. An observed fast exciton-density dependent conversion rate is attributed to spin exchange between pairs of orthoexcitons. Implication of these results on the feasibility of BEC of paraexcitons in Cu$_2$O is discussed

Effect of input pulse chirp on nonlinear energy deposition and plasma excitation in water

We analyze numerically and experimentally the effect of the input pulse chirp on the nonlinear energy deposition from $5\ \mu$J fs-pulses at $800$ nm to water. Numerical results are also shown for pulses at $400$ nm, where linear losses are minimized, and for different focusing geometries. Input chirp is found to have a big impact on the deposited energy and on the plasma distribution around focus, thus providing a simple and effective mechanism to tune the electron density and energy deposition. We identify three relevant ways in which plasma features may be tuned.Comment: 9 pages, 7 figure

Unusual stability of a one-parameter family of dissipative solitons due to spectral filtering and nonlinearity saturation

International audienceThe stability of a one-parameter family of dissipative solitons seen in the cubic-quintic complex Ginzburg-Landau equation is studied. It is found that an unusually strong stability occurs for solitons controlled by the spectral filtering and nonlinearity saturation simultaneously, consistently with the linear stability analysis and confirmed by large-perturbation numerical simulations. Two universal types of bifurcations in the spectrum structure are demonstrated

Self-compression of optical laser pulses by filamentation

International audienceDuring the propagation of intense femtosecond laser pulses in a transparent medium, pulse shortening can occur without external guiding. Experimental evidence for this effect and a description of its physical origin are presented. Nearly single cycle pulses at 800 nm with an energy of 0.120 mJ can be obtained with excellent beam quality. Carrier envelope offset phase (CEP) stability is conserved or even improved after the nonlinear propagation stage. Prospects for further improvement are discussed

Fine control of terahertz radiation from filamentation by molecular lensing in air

International audienceWe demonstrate a method to control remotely the terahertz (THz) source in air based on the bifilamentation of femtosecond laser pulses. By fine tuning the time delay between the two pulses, a significant modulation of the THz intensity from bifilamentation is observed. The phenomenon is attributed to the molecule quantum lensing effect around the air molecule revival time, which changes the separation between the two neighboring plasma producing filaments

Laser beam self-symmetrization in air in the multifilamentation regime

We show experimental and numerical evidence of spontaneous self-symmetrization of focused laser beams experiencing multi-filamentation in air. The symmetrization effect is observed as the multiple filaments generated prior to focus approach the focal volume. This phenomenon is attributed to the nonlinear interactions amongst the different parts of the beam mediated by the optical Kerr effect, which leads to a symmetric redistribution of the wave vectors even when the beam consists of a bundle of many filaments.Comment: 9 pages, 7 figure

Superfilamentation in air

The interaction between a large number of laser filaments brought together using weak external focusing leads to the emergence of few filamentary structures reminiscent of standard filaments, but carrying a higher intensity. The resulting plasma is measured to be one order of magnitude denser than for short-scale filaments. This new propagation regime is dubbed superfilamentation. Numerical simulations of a nonlinear envelope equation provide good agreement with experiments.Comment: 5 pages, 4 figure