Resonantly enhanced filamentation in gases
Abstract
In this Letter, a low-loss Kerr-driven optical filament in Krypton gas is experimentally reported in the ultraviolet. The experimental findings are supported by ab initio quantum calculations describing the atomic optical response. Higher-order Kerr effect induced by three-photon resonant transitions is identified as the underlying physical mechanism responsible for the intensity stabilization during the filamentation process, while ionization plays only a minor role. This result goes beyond the commonly-admitted paradigm of filamentation, in which ionization is a necessary condition of the filament intensity clamping. At resonance, it is also experimentally demonstrated that the filament length is greatly extended because of a strong decrease of the optical losses.
- Publication:
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Optica
- Pub Date:
- July 2017
- DOI:
- 10.1364/OPTICA.4.000764
- arXiv:
- arXiv:1607.05476
- Bibcode:
- 2017Optic...4..764D
- Keywords:
-
- Physics - Optics