Laser filamentation
Filamentation describes the ability of a very intense ultrashort laser pulse to remain focused over an extended distance (from several Rayleigh lengths to several kilometers).
Filaments arise from the nonlinear propagation of ultrashort, high-power laser pulses in transparent media. They result from a dynamic balance between Kerr-self-focusing and defocusing by negative higher-order Kerr effect (HOKE) and/or self-induced plasma,
In parallel with the experimental work, we develop and maintain a propagation code based on the Unidirectional Pulse Propagation Equation (UPPE), describing the filamentation of ultrashort pulses in radial symmetry.
Our research focuses on understanding similarities between laser filamentation and other nonlinear systems, including self-patterning [1, 2] or [3, 4, 5]. We are also interested in characterizing the transition to filamentation in various conditions [6] in order to better understand the filamentation onset, as well as to develop improved early warning for transitions to long-tailed distributions.
Besides, in collaboration with the group of Prof. Jean-Pierre Wolf, we are interested in atmospheric applications of ultrashort laser filamentation, e.g., to trigger condensation [7], clear fog [8], or guide lightning [9].
REFERENCES
[1] Beguin et al.,
[2] Mongin et al., Phys, Rev. Lett. 118 133902 (2017) - ()
[3] Kasparian et al., Optics express 17, 12070 (2009) - ()
[4] Eeltink et al., Phys. Rev. A 94, 033806 (2016) - ()
[5] Gomel et al., Phys. Rev. Lett. 126, 174501 (2021) - ()
[6] Gomel et al., Optics express 31, 9973 (2023) - ()
[7] Henin et al., Nature Communications 2, 456 (2011) - ()
[9] Houard et al., Nature Photonics 17, 231 (2023)