Onset of nonlinear self-focusing of femtosecond laser pulses in air: Conventional vs spatiotemporal focusing

Ya Cheng, Hongqiang Xie, Zhaohui Wang, Guihua Li, Bin Zeng, Fei He, Wei Chu, Jinping Yao, and Lingling Qiao
Phys. Rev. A 92, 023854 – Published 28 August 2015

Abstract

We report an experimental comparison of critical intensities of nonlinear self-focusing in air with conventional focusing and spatiotemporal focusing schemes. Our results show that the conventional focusing with the focal lens completely filled with the incident beam allows for a higher peak intensity near the focus against the nonlinear self-focusing than the spatiotemporal focusing scheme. This is because in the high-numerical-aperture condition, the focal spot will have a compact size, which results in a high focal intensity. Meanwhile, the Rayleigh length of the focused beam will be substantially shortened, which efficiently postpones the onset of self-focusing.

  • Figure
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  • Received 30 July 2015

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevA.92.023854

©2015 American Physical Society

Authors & Affiliations

Ya Cheng1,*, Hongqiang Xie1,2, Zhaohui Wang1,2, Guihua Li1, Bin Zeng1, Fei He1, Wei Chu1, Jinping Yao1, and Lingling Qiao1

  • 1State Key Laboratory of High Field Laser Physics, Shanghai Institute of Optics and Fine Mechanics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, P.O. Box 800-211, Shanghai 201800, China
  • 2Graduate School of the Chinese Academics of Sciences, Beijing 100039, China

  • *ya.cheng@siom.ac.cn

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Vol. 92, Iss. 2 — August 2015

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