中国物理B ›› 2008, Vol. 17 ›› Issue (5): 1826-1832.doi: 10.1088/1674-1056/17/5/046

• CLASSICAL AREAS OF PHENOMENOLOGY • 上一篇    下一篇

Self-compression of femtosecond pulses in argon with a power close to the self-focusing threshold

陈晓伟, 曾志男, 戴 君, 李小芳, 李儒新, 徐至展   

  1. State Key Laboratory of High Field Laser Physics, Shanghai Institute of Optics and Fine Mechanics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai 201800, China
  • 收稿日期:2007-03-26 修回日期:2007-09-18 出版日期:2008-05-20 发布日期:2008-05-20
  • 基金资助:
    Project supported by the National Basic Research Program of China (Grant No 2006CB806000), the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant Nos 60578049 and 10523003), and the Science and Technology Commission of Shanghai Municipality of China (Gra

Self-compression of femtosecond pulses in argon with a power close to the self-focusing threshold

Chen Xiao-Wei(陈晓伟), Zeng Zhi-Nan(曾志男), Dai Jun(戴君), Li Xiao-Fang(李小芳), Li Ru-Xin(李儒新), and Xu Zhi-Zhan(徐至展)   

  1. State Key Laboratory of High Field Laser Physics, Shanghai Institute of Optics and Fine Mechanics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai 201800, China
  • Received:2007-03-26 Revised:2007-09-18 Online:2008-05-20 Published:2008-05-20
  • Supported by:
    Project supported by the National Basic Research Program of China (Grant No 2006CB806000), the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant Nos 60578049 and 10523003), and the Science and Technology Commission of Shanghai Municipality of China (Gra

摘要: Self-compression of femtosecond pulses in noble gases with an input power close to the self-focusing threshold has been investigated experimentally and theoretically. It is demonstrated that either multiphoton ionization (MPI) or space--time focusing and self-steepening effects can induce pulse shortening, but they predominate at different beam intensities during the propagation. The latter effects play a key role in the final pulse self-compression. By choosing an appropriate focusing parameter, action distance of the space--time focusing and self-steepening effects can be lengthened, which can promote a shock pulse structure with a duration as short as two optical cycles. It is also found that, for our calculation cases in which an input pulse power is close to the self-focusing threshold, either group velocity dispersion (GVD) or multiphoton absorption (MPA) has a negligible influence on pulse characteristics in the propagation process.

Abstract: Self-compression of femtosecond pulses in noble gases with an input power close to the self-focusing threshold has been investigated experimentally and theoretically. It is demonstrated that either multiphoton ionization (MPI) or space--time focusing and self-steepening effects can induce pulse shortening, but they predominate at different beam intensities during the propagation. The latter effects play a key role in the final pulse self-compression. By choosing an appropriate focusing parameter, action distance of the space--time focusing and self-steepening effects can be lengthened, which can promote a shock pulse structure with a duration as short as two optical cycles. It is also found that, for our calculation cases in which an input pulse power is close to the self-focusing threshold, either group velocity dispersion (GVD) or multiphoton absorption (MPA) has a negligible influence on pulse characteristics in the propagation process.

Key words: nonlinear propagation, self-focusing, self-compression

中图分类号:  (Beam trapping, self-focusing and defocusing; self-phase modulation)

  • 42.65.Jx
32.80.-t (Photoionization and excitation) 42.65.Hw (Phase conjugation; photorefractive and Kerr effects) 52.35.Mw (Nonlinear phenomena: waves, wave propagation, and other interactions (including parametric effects, mode coupling, ponderomotive effects, etc.))