Please wait a minute...
Chinese Physics, 2004, Vol. 13(3): 359-363    DOI: 10.1088/1009-1963/13/3/017
CLASSICAL AREAS OF PHENOMENOLOGY Prev   Next  

Optical breakdown and filamentation of femtosecond laser pulses propagating in air at a kHz repetition rate

Duan Zuo-Liang (段作梁), Chen Jian-Ping (陈建平), Li Ru-Xin (李儒新), Lin Li-Huang (林礼煌), Xu Zhi-Zhan (徐至展)
Laboratory for High Intensity Optics, Shanghai Institute of Optics and Fine Mechanics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai 201800, China
Abstract  We report the experiments on the optical breakdown and filamentation of femtosecond laser pulses propagating in air at a kHz repetition rate and with several hundreds micro-joule-energy. A 10m-long filament and its breakup and merging at the nonlinear focal region produced by modulational instability of femtosecond laser pulses in air are observed. A simple model based on the nonlinear Schr?dinger equation coupled with multiphoton ionization law is presented to explain the several experimental results.
Keywords:  filamentation      Kerr self-focusing      optical-breakdown  
Received:  17 January 2003      Revised:  08 May 2003      Accepted manuscript online: 
PACS:  42.60.Lh (Efficiency, stability, gain, and other operational parameters)  
  42.60.Jf (Beam characteristics: profile, intensity, and power; spatial pattern formation)  
  42.65.Hw (Phase conjugation; photorefractive and Kerr effects)  
  52.35.Py (Macroinstabilities (hydromagnetic, e.g., kink, fire-hose, mirror, ballooning, tearing, trapped-particle, flute, Rayleigh-Taylor, etc.))  
  52.38.Hb (Self-focussing, channeling, and filamentation in plasmas)  
Fund: Project supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No 29890210), the National Basic Research Special Foundation (Grant No G1999075200) and Shanghai Foundation of Science & Technology (Grant No 0159nm022).

Cite this article: 

Duan Zuo-Liang (段作梁), Chen Jian-Ping (陈建平), Li Ru-Xin (李儒新), Lin Li-Huang (林礼煌), Xu Zhi-Zhan (徐至展) Optical breakdown and filamentation of femtosecond laser pulses propagating in air at a kHz repetition rate 2004 Chinese Physics 13 359

[1] High power supercontinuum generation by dual-color femtosecond laser pulses in fused silica
Saba Zafar, Dong-Wei Li(李东伟), Acner Camino, Jun-Wei Chang(常峻巍), and Zuo-Qiang Hao(郝作强). Chin. Phys. B, 2022, 31(8): 084209.
[2] Quantitative evaluation of LAL productivity of colloidal nanomaterials: Which laser pulse width is more productive, ergonomic, and economic?
Alena Nastulyavichus, Nikita Smirnov, and Sergey Kudryashov. Chin. Phys. B, 2022, 31(7): 077803.
[3] Orientation-dependent depolarization of supercontinuum in BaF2 crystal
Zi-Xi Li(李子熙), Cheng Gong(龚成), Tian-Jiao Shao(邵天骄), Lin-Qiang Hua(华林强), Xue-Bin Bian(卞学滨), Xiao-Jun Liu(柳晓军). Chin. Phys. B, 2020, 29(1): 014212.
[4] Properties of long light filaments in natural environment
Shi-You Chen(陈式有), Hao Teng(滕浩), Xin Lu(鲁欣), Zong-Wei Shen(沈忠伟), Shuang Qin(秦爽), Wen-Shou Wei(魏文寿), Rong-Yi Chen(陈荣毅), Li-Ming Chen(陈黎明), Yu-Tong Li(李玉同), Zhi-Yi Wei(魏志义). Chin. Phys. B, 2018, 27(8): 085203.
[5] Intense supercontinuum generation in the near-ultraviolet range from a 400-nm femtosecond laser filament array in fused silica
Dongwei Li(李东伟), Lanzhi Zhang(张兰芝), Saba Zafar, He Song(宋鹤), Zuoqiang Hao(郝作强), Tingting Xi(奚婷婷), Xun Gao(高勋), Jingquan Lin(林景全). Chin. Phys. B, 2017, 26(7): 074213.
[6] Filamentation instability in two counter-streaming laser plasmas
Hui Liu(刘慧), Quan-Li Dong(董全力), Da-Wei Yuan(袁大伟), Xun Liu(刘勋), Neng Hua(华能), Zhan-Feng Qiao(乔战峰), Bao-Qiang Zhu(朱宝强), Jian-Qiang Zhu(朱健强), Bo-Bin Jiang(蒋柏彬), Kai Du(杜凯), Yong-Jian Tang(唐永健), Gang Zhao(赵刚), Xiao-Hui Yuan(远晓辉), Zheng-Ming Sheng(盛政明), Jie Zhang(张杰). Chin. Phys. B, 2016, 25(12): 125201.
[7] Enhancement of third harmonic generation in air filamentation using obstacles
Liu Xiao-Long (刘晓龙), Lu Xin (鲁欣), Du Zhi-Gui (杜志贵), Ma Jing-Long (马景龙), Li Yu-Tong (李玉同), Zhang Jie (张杰). Chin. Phys. B, 2015, 24(3): 034207.
[8] Defocusing role in femtosecond filamentation: Higher-order Kerr effect or plasma effect?
Li Su-Yu (李苏宇), Guo Fu-Ming (郭福明), Yang Yu-Jun (杨玉军), Jin Ming-Xing (金明星). Chin. Phys. B, 2015, 24(11): 114207.
[9] Femtosecond filamentation induced fluorescence technique for atmospheric sensing
Yuan Shuai (袁帅), Chin See Leang (陈瑞良), Zeng He-Ping (曾和平). Chin. Phys. B, 2015, 24(1): 014208.
[10] Femtosecond laser-induced microstructure in Foturan glass
Sun Hai-Yi(孙海轶), Luo Fang-Fang(骆芳芳), He Fei(何飞), Liao Yang(廖洋), and Xu Jian(徐剑). Chin. Phys. B, 2010, 19(5): 054210.
[11] Filamentation-assisted fourth-order nonlinear process in KTP crystal
Zhang Xi-Peng(张喜鹏), Jiang Hong-Bing(蒋红兵), Chen Li(陈利), Jiang Ying-Ying(蒋莹莹), Yang Hong(杨宏), and Gong Qi-Huang(龚旗煌). Chin. Phys. B, 2010, 19(3): 034209.
[12] FILAMENTATION INSTABILITY OF LASER BEAMS IN NONLOCAL NONLINEAR MEDIA
Wen Shuang-chun (文双春), Fan Dian-yuan (范滇元). Chin. Phys. B, 2001, 10(11): 1032-1036.
No Suggested Reading articles found!