Infrared extension of the super continuum generated by femtosecond terawatt laser pulses propagating in the atmosphere.

We investigated the spectral behavior of a white-light continuum generated in air by 2-TW femtosecond laser pulses at 800 nm. The spectrum extends at least from 300 nm to 4.5 mum. From 1 to 1.6 mum the continuum's intensity increases strongly with the laser energy and depends on the initial chirp.

[1]  I. Golub,et al.  Optical characteristics of supercontinuum generation. , 1990, Optics letters.

[2]  F. Salin,et al.  Conical emission from self-guided femtosecond pulses in air. , 1996, Optics letters.

[3]  K. Ueda,et al.  Ultrabroadband flat continuum generation in multichannel propagation of terrawatt Ti:sapphire laser pulses. , 1995, Optics letters.

[4]  Gaeta Catastrophic collapse of ultrashort pulses , 2000, Physical review letters.

[5]  G. Mourou,et al.  Self-channeling of high-peak-power femtosecond laser pulses in air. , 1995, Optics letters.

[6]  R. Alfano,et al.  Spectral broadening of picosecond 1.06 μ pulse in KBr , 1975 .

[7]  R. R. Alfano,et al.  Direct Distortion of Electronic Clouds of Rare-Gas Atoms in Intense Electric Fields , 1970 .

[8]  B. Stein,et al.  Remote sensing of the atmosphere using ultrashort laser pulses , 2000 .

[9]  Donna Strickland,et al.  Resistance of short pulses to self-focusing , 1991 .

[10]  R. Alfano,et al.  Observation of Self-Phase Modulation and Small-Scale Filaments in Crystals and Glasses , 1970 .

[11]  Roland Sauerbrey,et al.  Electrical conductivity of long plasma channels in air generated by self-guided femtosecond laser pulses , 1999 .

[12]  Nicolaas Bloembergen,et al.  Superbroadening in H2O and D2O by self-focused picosecond pulses from a YAlG:Nd laser , 1977 .

[13]  See Leang Chin,et al.  Ultrafast white-light continuum generation and self-focusing in transparent condensed media , 1999 .

[14]  R. Measures Laser remote sensing : fundamentals and applications , 1984 .

[15]  Robert R. Alfano,et al.  Emission in the Region 4000 to 7000 Å Via Four-Photon Coupling in Glass , 1970 .

[16]  R R Alfano,et al.  Generation of infrared supercontinuum covering 3-14 microm in dielectrics and semiconductors. , 1985, Optics letters.

[17]  A. Mysyrowicz,et al.  Formation of a conducting channel in air by self-guided femtosecond laser pulses. , 1999, Physical review. E, Statistical physics, plasmas, fluids, and related interdisciplinary topics.

[18]  Jean-Pierre Wolf,et al.  A new transient SRS analysis method of aerosols and application to a nonlinear femtosecond lidar , 1998 .