title: Self-focusing of intense laser pulses in a clustered gas.
abstract: We report the self-focusing of intense laser pulses in gases composed of atomic clusters. This is in strong contrast to beam spreading owing to ionization-induced refraction commonly observed in nonclustered gases. The effect is explained in terms of the ensemble average transient polarizability of the heated clusters as they explode in response to the intense pulse.
authors.affiliation: Institute for Physical Science and Technology, University of Maryland, College Park, Maryland 20742, USA.
authors.forename: I
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Alexeev
authors.forename: T M
authors.initials: TM
authors.lastname: Antonsen
authors.forename: K Y
authors.initials: KY
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.forename: H M
authors.initials: HM
authors.lastname: Milchberg