Nonlinear effects with ultrashort laser pulses

Propagation of an intense femtosecond laser pulse through a transparent nonlinear medium such as dielectric leads to a number of phenomena. In our experiment we observed complex spatial, spectral, and temporal structures appearing in the initially smooth femtosecond laser pulse when the pulse power is comparable to or higher than the critical power for self-focusing. We have also developed a complete, 3-dimensional theoretical model to describe the observed phenomena.

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