We have solved the long-standing problem of the mechanism of terahertz (THz) generation by a two-color filament in air and found that both neutrals and plasma contribute to the radiation. We reveal ...that the contribution from neutrals by four-wave mixing is much weaker and higher in frequency than the distinctive plasma lower-frequency contribution. The former is in the forward direction while the latter is in a cone and reveals an abrupt down-shift to the plasma frequency. Ring-shaped spatial distributions of the THz radiation are shown to be of universal nature and they occur in both collimated and focusing propagation geometries. Experimental measurements of the frequency-angular spectrum generated by 130-fs laser pulses agree with numerical simulations based on a unidirectional pulse propagation model.
We have experimentally obtained two-dimensional distributions of terahertz radiation generated by one or four filaments formed by phase optical elements in air. It has been demonstrated that the use ...of the phase mask reduces the propagation angles of terahertz beam by approximately one and a half times, which is due to the interference of terahertz radiation from four sources. The use of the Dammann grating slightly enlarges these angles.
At the selected frequencies from 0.3 to 10 THz we measured the two-dimensional (2D) distributions of fluence and polarization of terahertz (THz) emission from a single-color femtosecond filament. At ...the majority of frequencies studied, the THz beam has a donut-like shape with azimuthal modulations and radial polarization. At the maximal modulation, THz beam takes the form of the two lobes and polarization of the THz field degenerates into orthogonal to the laser pulse polarization direction. Violation of the radially polarized donut beam shape is due to destructive interference of THz waves driven by light pressure directed along the laser beam propagation axis and ponderomotive force parallel to the laser polarization.
Part of the chain in petawatt laser systems may involve extreme focusing conditions for which nonparaxial and vectorial effects have high impact on the propagation of radiation. We investigate the ...possibility of using propagation equations to simulate numerically the focal spot under these conditions. We derive a unidirectional propagation equation for the Hertz vector, describing linear and nonlinear propagation under situations where nonparaxial diffraction and vectorial effects become significant. By comparing our simulations to the results of vector diffraction integrals in the case of linear tight-focusing by a parabolic mirror, we establish a practical criterion for the critical f -number below which initializing a propagation equation with a parabolic input phase becomes inaccurate. We propose a method to find suitable input conditions for propagation equations beyond this limit. Extreme focusing conditions are shown to be modeled accurately by means of numerical simulations of the unidirectional Hertz-vector propagation equation initialized with suitable input conditions.
We present experimental and theoretical results on white-light generation in the filamentation of a high-power femtosecond laser pulse in water and atmospheric air. We have shown that the high ...spatio-temporal localization of the light field in the filament, which enables the supercontinuum generation, is sustained due to the dynamic transformation of the light field on the whole transverse scale of the beam, including its edges. We found that the sources of the supercontinuum blue wing are in the rings, surrounding the filament, as well as at the back of the pulse, where shock-wave formation enhanced by self-steepening takes place. We report on the first observation and demonstration of the interference of the supercontinuum spectral components arising in the course of multiple filamentation in a terawatt laser pulse. We demonstrate that the conversion efficiency of an initially narrow laser pulse spectrum into the supercontinuum depends on the length of the filament with high intensity gradients and can be increased by introducing an initial chirp.
At the frequencies from 0.1 to 1 THz, we measured the angular distributions of terahertz (THz) emission from DC-biased femtosecond filament. The external electric field (DC bias) was increased from 0 ...to 3.3 kV/cm and provided continuous transition from forward conical emission, corresponding to the unbiased single-color filament, to on-axis emission, corresponding to the DC-biased one. We decomposed the measured far-field THz distributions into the quadrupole and dipole contributions, the latter being increased with increasing biasing field. The superposition of quadrupole and dipole local sources was integrated numerically over the plasma channel length and fit to the experimentally obtained angular distributions. The transition from the conical to the on-axis emission occured at the external field of (3.2 ± 0.8) kV/cm in the range of frequencies studied.
An O-shaped structure at wavelengths of 930–960 nm in the frequency–angular spectrum of the supercontinuum generated during the filamentation of a femtosecond laser pulse with a central wavelength of ...740 nm on a 75-m path in air has been observed experimentally. This feature of the frequency–angular spectrum is due to the presence of the absorption band of water vapor in the range of 930–960 nm and the anomalous dispersion region associated with this absorption. This result opens prospects for the remote single-pulse detection of impurities in air.
We compare transverse structure evolution and energy deposition into the medium within focused multifilament arrays created using two different types of diffraction optical elements (DOEs): TEM 11 ...phase plate and a Dammann grating. We show that the employment of the Dammann grating provides a robust way to create regular multifilament arrays, which is far less dependent on laser beam quality than one using the phase plate.
Quantum-mechanical simulations of the nonlinear response of a one-dimensional quantum system with the energy structure close to that of the xenon atom to an ultraviolet femtosecond pulse with an ...intensity of 1–100 TW/cm
2
reveal the dispersion of the cubic nonlinearity coefficient in the range of 266–400 nm and its intensity dependence. This excludes the description of the response of bound electrons as
. The calculation of the polarization with this one-dimensional quantum model can be used to simulate the propagation of ultraviolet femtosecond radiation in a gas.
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