Nonlinear Optics in Guided Geometries - Abstract

Stelmaszczyk, Kamil

New aspects of multiple filamentation and supercontinuum generation in experiments on many fold supercritical beams (P>10 000 Pcr)

A filamentary break-up of highly supercritical laser beams is generally known to result form random fluctuations of the laser noise and/or the propagation medium. It is accompanied by efficient supercontinuum generation, emitted preferably in a forward direction. Our recent experiments on multi-filamenting beams show that the stated above features must not be necessarily fulfilled. In the first one the two phase-locked beams were crossed inside a glass block at incident angles of a few degrees. Surprisingly, the emitted white light was not collinear with either of the beams, but propagated parallel to their common symmetry axis. In the second experiment the propagation of 150 TW laser beam in air was studied. Registered intensity profiles revealed a possible new regime of multiple filamentation, where the individual filaments interact with each other and self-organize in one-dimensional structures.