TY - GEN
T1 - Extending femtosecond filamentation of high power laser propagating in the atmosphere
AU - Eisenmann, Shmuel
AU - Sivan, Yonatan
AU - Fibich, Gadi
AU - Zigler, Arie
PY - 2008/8/15
Y1 - 2008/8/15
N2 - We show experimentally for ultrashort laser pulses propagating in air, that the filamentation distance of intense laser pulses in the atmosphere can be extended and controlled with a simple double-lens setup. Using this method we were able to achieve a 20-fold delay of the filamentation distance of non-chirped 120 fs pulses propagating in air, from 16 m to 330 m. At 330 m, the collapsing pulse is sufficiently powerful to create plasma filaments. We also show that the scatter of the filaments at 330 m can be significantly reduced by tilting the second lens. We derive a simple formula for the filamentation distance, and confirm its agreement with the experimental results. We also observe that delaying the onset of filamentation increases the filament length. To the best of our knowledge, this is the longest distance reported in the literature at which plasma filaments were created and controlled. Finally, we show that the peak power at the onset of collapse is significantly higher with the double-lens setup, compared with the standard negative chirping approach.
AB - We show experimentally for ultrashort laser pulses propagating in air, that the filamentation distance of intense laser pulses in the atmosphere can be extended and controlled with a simple double-lens setup. Using this method we were able to achieve a 20-fold delay of the filamentation distance of non-chirped 120 fs pulses propagating in air, from 16 m to 330 m. At 330 m, the collapsing pulse is sufficiently powerful to create plasma filaments. We also show that the scatter of the filaments at 330 m can be significantly reduced by tilting the second lens. We derive a simple formula for the filamentation distance, and confirm its agreement with the experimental results. We also observe that delaying the onset of filamentation increases the filament length. To the best of our knowledge, this is the longest distance reported in the literature at which plasma filaments were created and controlled. Finally, we show that the peak power at the onset of collapse is significantly higher with the double-lens setup, compared with the standard negative chirping approach.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=49149094112&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1063/1.2958201
DO - 10.1063/1.2958201
M3 - Conference contribution
AN - SCOPUS:49149094112
SN - 9780735405455
T3 - AIP Conference Proceedings
SP - 257
EP - 272
BT - Laser-Driven Relativistic Plasmas Applied for Science, Industry, and Medicine - The 1st International Symposium
T2 - 1st International Symposium on Laser-Driven Relativistic Plasmas Applied for Science, Industry, and Medicine
Y2 - 17 September 2007 through 20 September 2007
ER -