Abstract

We present the results of our experimental study of the propagation dynamics of high-power femtosecond laser radiation in air with initially imposed amplitude and/or phase modulations. Depending on the modulation type and magnitude, the laser pulse upon nonlinear propagation breaks up into several high-intensity spatially localized light channels, which may or may not contain air plasma and thus are referred to as laser filaments, post-filaments, or plasmaless channels. The pulse modulations are implemented by means of control of the phase or amplitude front using a bimorph deformable mirror or amplitude masks, respectively. We show that the distance of formation and spatial length of high-intensity light channels along a propagation path strongly depend on the shapes and spatial positions of the inhomogeneities created in the transverse phase/amplitude pulse profile, but weakly depend on their sizes.

© 2022 Optica Publishing Group

Self-channeling of spatially modulated femtosecond laser beams in the post-filamentation region

Yury Geints, Olga Minina, and Alexander Zemlyanov
J. Opt. Soc. Am. B 39(6) 1549-1556 (2022)

Statistical parameters of femtosecond laser pulse post-filament propagation on a 65 m air path with localized optical turbulence

Dmitry V. Apeksimov, Andrey V. Bulygin, Yury E. Geints, Andrey M. Kabanov, Elena E. Khoroshaeva, Aleksey V. Petrov, and Victor K. Oshlakov
J. Opt. Soc. Am. B 39(12) 3237-3246 (2022)

Energy, spectral, and angular properties of post-filamentation channels during propagation in air and condensed media

Yury E. Geints, Andrey A. Ionin, Daria V. Mokrousova, Georgy E. Rizaev, Leonid V. Seleznev, Elena S. Sunchugasheva, and Alexander A. Zemlyanov
J. Opt. Soc. Am. B 36(10) G19-G24 (2019)

Controlling TW-laser pulse long-range filamentation in air by a deformable mirror

D. V. Apeksimov, Yu. E. Geints, A. A. Zemlyanov, A. M. Kabanov, V. K. Oshlakov, A. V. Petrov, and G. G. Matvienko
Appl. Opt. 57(33) 9760-9769 (2018)

Long-range detection and length estimation of light filaments using extra-attenuation of terawatt femtosecond laser pulses propagating in air

Qi Luo, Jin Yu, S. Abbas Hosseini, Weiwei Liu, Bruno Ferland, Gilles Roy, and See Leang Chin
Appl. Opt. 44(3) 391-397 (2005)