Demonstration of Long-Lived High-Power Optical Waveguides in Air

Jhajj, N.; Rosenthal, Eric; Birnbaum, R.; Wahlstrand, J. K.; Milchberg, H. M.

doi:10.1103/physrevx.4.011027

Cited by 102 publications

(109 citation statements)

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“…In the limit of laser intensities approaching and exceeding 10 14 W/cm 2 , i.e. above the typical ionization threshold, local gas heating due to the re-scattering of hot electrons in laser-induced plasma filaments is well understood [14].…”

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confidence: 99%

“…Nonlinear change of refractive index gives rise to filamentation (recent reviews of this broad topic can be found in [1,2]), whereas spatially localized heating results in the formation of acoustic waves [3][4][5][6][7][8] and long-lived gas density perturbations [9][10][11]. Photo-acoustic vibrational Raman spectroscopy has been successfully utilized for chemical detection and trace analysis [12,13].…”

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confidence: 99%

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Sound emission from the gas of molecular superrotors

Milner¹,

Korobenko²,

Milner³

2015

Opt. Express

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We use an optical centrifuge to deposit a controllable amount of rotational energy into dense molecular ensembles. Subsequent rotation-translation energy transfer, mediated by thermal collisions, results in the localized heating of the gas and generates strong sound wave, clearly audible to the unaided ear. For the first time, the amplitude of the sound signal is analyzed as a function of the experimentally measured rotational energy. The proportionality between the two experimental observables confirms that rotational excitation is the main source of the detected sound wave. As virtually all molecules, including the main constituents of the atmosphere, are amenable to laser spinning by the centrifuge, we anticipate this work to stimulate further development in the area of photo-acoustic control and spectroscopy.

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confidence: 99%

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confidence: 99%

Sound emission from the gas of molecular superrotors

Milner¹,

Korobenko²,

Milner³

2015

Opt. Express

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“…Polynkin et al experimentally observed the generation of curved plasma channels in both air and water by applying femtosecond Airy beams [9,10] . An extended and robust thermal waveguide structure in air with a lifetime of several milliseconds can be formed with femtosecond filaments [11] , making possible the very-long-range guiding and distant projection of high-energy laser pulses and high average power beams.However, the propagation characteristics of high power pulsed lasers at the interfaces of different transparent materials are ignored, particularly those of femtosecond filament. The air-glass surface is now widely used for the imaging of the lateral distribution of a filament [12][13][14] ; however, the propagation characteristics are neglected.…”

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confidence: 99%

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Propagation of a filamentary femtosecond laser beam with high intensities at an air-solid interface

et al. 2017

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The propagation of a filamentary laser beam at an air-glass surface is studied by setting the incident angle satisfying the total reflection condition. The images of the trajectory of the filamentary laser beam inside the sample and the output far-field spatial profiles are measured with varying incident laser pulse energies. Different from the general total reflection, a transmitted laser beam is detected along the propagation direction of the incident laser beam. The energy ratio of the transmitted laser beam depends on the pulse energies of the incident laser beam. The background energy reservoir surrounding the filament core can break the law of total reflection at the air-glass surface, resulting in the regeneration of the transmitted laser beam.OCIS The self-guided propagation of intense femtosecond laser pulses in transparent media results in the generation of extended plasma channels that have exciting potential applications in the field of fundamental nonlinear optical physics [1][2][3][4][5] . A single and stable filament can be generated by using a conventional lens reaching a few tens of millimeters or even meters, if the laser intensity exceeds the critical power P cr . Multifilaments will be formed as the incident pulse exceeding the critical power by an order of magnitude, which is unstable both in space and time [6] . Investigations on the characterization of a single filament with the incident laser power P ≥ P cr and the interactions among multifilaments were performed to search for further applications of laser filamentation, e.g. amplified spontaneous emission air lasing in both the backward and forward directions [7,8] . Meanwhile, the propagation characteristics were also studied. Polynkin et al. experimentally observed the generation of curved plasma channels in both air and water by applying femtosecond Airy beams [9,10] . An extended and robust thermal waveguide structure in air with a lifetime of several milliseconds can be formed with femtosecond filaments [11] , making possible the very-long-range guiding and distant projection of high-energy laser pulses and high average power beams.However, the propagation characteristics of high power pulsed lasers at the interfaces of different transparent materials are ignored, particularly those of femtosecond filament. The air-glass surface is now widely used for the imaging of the lateral distribution of a filament [12][13][14] ; however, the propagation characteristics are neglected. Setting the incident angle satisfying the total reflection condition, the propagation of a femtosecond filament at an air-glass surface is studied by showing the imaging of the propagation trajectory, the far-field profiles in this Letter. The dependence of the pulse energy of the reflective beam on the incident pulse energy is also measured. Figure 1 shows the experimental setup. The basic parameters of the femtosecond laser beam are a pulse energy of 1.1 mJ, a central wavelength of 800 nm, a pulse duration of 60 fs, and a repetition rate of 1.0 kHz. One set of ...

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“…Propagation over such long distances is a result of the dynamic balance between the focusing Kerr nonlinearity, diffraction, and plasma defocusing due to multiphoton absorption. A proper arrangement of plasma channels into arrays built of multiple filaments can lead to control [5] and efficient guiding of electromagnetic radiation in air [6]. Dielectric [7] and hollow-core metallic waveguide configurations [8,9] were predicted theoretically and demonstrated experimentally [10] to guide microwave radiation.…”

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Dynamics of Large Femtosecond Filament Arrays: Possibilities, Limitations, and Trade-offs

Walasik

Litchinitser

2016

Frontiers in Optics 2016

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Stable propagation of large, multifilament arrays over long distances in air paves new ways for microwave-radiation manipulation. Although, the dynamics of a single or a few filaments was discussed in some of the previous studies, we show that the stability of large plasma filament arrays is significantly more complicated and is constrained by several trade-offs. Here, we analyze the stability properties of rectangular arrays as a function of four parameters: relative phase of the generating beams, number of filaments, separation between them, and initial power. We find that arrays with alternating phase of filaments are more stable than similar arrays with all beams in phase. Additionally, we show that increasing the size of an array increases its stability, and that a proper choice of the beam separation and the initial power has to be made in order to obtain a dense and regular array of filaments.PACS numbers: 52.38. Hb, 42.65.Sf, 42.65.Tg, 42.65.Jx High-power femtosecond laser-pulse filamentation is a flourishing field of nonlinear optics due to its numerous applications in remote sensing, lightning protection, virtual antennas, and waveguiding [1][2][3]. Experiments show that a femtosecond laser beams can ionize atmosphere at the kilometer-scale distances [4]. Propagation over such long distances is a result of the dynamic balance between the focusing Kerr nonlinearity, diffraction, and plasma defocusing due to multiphoton absorption. A proper arrangement of plasma channels into arrays built of multiple filaments can lead to control [5] and efficient guiding of electromagnetic radiation in air [6]. Dielectric [7] and hollow-core metallic waveguide configurations [8,9] were predicted theoretically and demonstrated experimentally [10] to guide microwave radiation. Periodic arrays of densely packed high-intensity filaments were shown to create a hyperbolic metamaterial medium, that allows for radar signal manipulation and resolution enhancement [11,12].Formation of desired, regular filament patterns requires precise control of filament distribution and interaction. Multiple filaments can be generated by an intense Gaussian beam [13,14], whose power is much higher than the critical power of self-focusing P cr . However, the distribution of filaments resulting from the breakup of a Gaussian beam is determined by intensity fluctuations [15] and modulation instability [16,17]. Moreover, the density of filaments generated in this way is limited [18,19]. Therefore, this method can not provide the fine control and the high filament density required for the microwave-radiation manipulation. A certain degree of control of the filament distribution can be obtained by special preparation of the Gaussian beam. It was demonstrated experimentally that the predetermined initial phase [20,21], amplitude distribution [15], and geometry of the beam [22] offer a limited control of the filamentation pattern. The filament distribution in an array can be even more deterministic if the position of each beam is managed independent...

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Demonstration of Long-Lived High-Power Optical Waveguides in Air

Cited by 102 publications

References 35 publications

Sound emission from the gas of molecular superrotors

Sound emission from the gas of molecular superrotors

Propagation of a filamentary femtosecond laser beam with high intensities at an air-solid interface

Dynamics of Large Femtosecond Filament Arrays: Possibilities, Limitations, and Trade-offs

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