Enhancement of terahertz emission during single-color filamentation by chirping laser pulse

An experimental study of laser pulse duration influence on the terahertz emission during single-color filamentation is carried out. It is shown that for each terahertz frequency there is an optimal laser pulse duration providing maximal generation at constant pulse energy. It is demonstrated that longer pulses are required for stronger low-frequency terahertz emission, thus despite considerable laser peak power decreasing the terahertz radiation yield can be increased by more than 3 times

Manipulation of femtosecond laser filamentation by wire mesh amplitude mask

The results of numerical simulation on the propagation of high-power femtosecond laser pulses in air under conditions of the amplitude modulation are presented. Laser pulse amplitude modulation is realized by using the metal mesh-masks, which divide the initial laser beam into lower-energy parts (subbeams). We show that, in general, the beam energy partitioning by metal meshes reduces the total length of beam filamentation region in air, whereas the longitudinal continuity of the laser plasma distribution in the filaments is considerably improved. A strong dependence of the filamentation region parameters (starting coordinate, length, longitudinal continuity) on the position of the mesh-mask relative to the laser beam axis is also revealed. It turns out that under certain conditions, when the beam axis points to the mesh crossing, the spatial position of the filaments can be shifted further along the propagation path by increasing the size of the mesh cells. Alternatively, if the beam center exposes the mesh cell opening, the filamentation start coordinate decreases monotonically when the mesh becomes sparser. Additionally, the parameters of the filamentation region exhibit high sensitivity to the mesh wire thickness that can dominate the influence of mesh position and cell size

Tracing Evolution of Angle-Wavelength Spectrum along the 40-m Postfilament in Corridor Air

International audiencePostfilamentation channel resulting from filamentation of freely propagating 744-nm, 5-mJ, 110-fs pulse in the corridor air is examined experimentally and in simulations. The longitudinal extension of postfilament was determined to be 55–95 m from the compressor output. Using single-shot angle-wavelength spectra measurements, we observed a series of red-shifted maxima in the spectrum, localized on the beam axis with the divergence below 0.5 mrad. In the range 55–70 m, the number of maxima and their red-shift increase with the distance reaching 1 μm, while the pulse duration measured by the autocorrelation technique is approximately constant. Further on, for distances larger than 70 m and up to 95 m, the propagation is characterized by the suppressed beam divergence and unchanged pulse spectrum. The pulse duration increases due to the normal air dispersion

Nonlinear Propagation and Filamentation on 100 Meter Air Path of Femtosecond Beam Partitioned by Wire Mesh

International audienceHigh-intensity (∼1 TW/cm2 and higher) region formed in the propagation of ∼60 GW, 90 fs Ti:Sapphire laser pulse on a ∼100 m path in air spans for several tens of meters and includes a plasma filament and a postfilament light channel. The intensity in this extended region is high enough to generate an infrared supercontinuum wing and to initiate laser-induced discharge in the gap between the electrodes. In the experiment and simulations, we delay the high-intensity region along the propagation direction by inserting metal-wire meshes with square cells at the laser system output. We identify the presence of a high-intensity region from the clean-spatial-mode distributions, appearance of the infrared supercontinuum wing, and occurrence of the laser-induced discharge. In the case of free propagation (without any meshes), the onset of the high-intensity zone is at 40–52 m from the laser system output with ∼30 m extension. Insertion of the mesh with 3 mm cells delays the beginning of the high-intensity region to 49–68 m with the same ∼30 m extension. A decrease in the cell size to 1 mm leads to both delay and shrinking of the high-intensity zone to 71–73 m and 6 m, respectively. Three-dimensional simulations in space confirm the mesh-induced delay of the high-intensity zone as the cell size decreases