Vol. 35, issue 04, article # 9

Abstract:

Results of laboratory experiments on control of the filamentation domain of a focused femtosecond laser beam with a spatially structured (using a deformable mirror) wavefront are described. Aberration beams consisting of coherent interleaved ring subapertures obtained with a deformable mirror of specific form are studied. This allows producing inhomogeneities of the distribution of the optical field amplitude during laser beam propagation; these inhomogeneities can subsequently become seeds for light filaments. This approach to control high-power radiation filamentation does not require compensation for distortions of the initial beam profile; on the contrary, it is based on controllable introduction of pre-calculated wavefront aberrations.

Keywords:

ultrashort laser radiation, structured light, Kerr effect, self-focusing, high-intensity light channels

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