title: Intense self-compressed, self-phase-stabilized few-cycle pulses at 2 microm from an optical filament.
abstract: We report the compression of intense, carrier-envelope phase stable mid-IR pulses down to few-cycle duration using an optical filament. A filament in xenon gas is formed by using self-phase stabilized 330 microJ 55 fs pulses at 2 microm produced via difference-frequency generation in a Ti:sapphire-pumped optical parametric amplifier. The ultrabroadband 2 microm carrier-wavelength output is self-compressed below 3 optical cycles and has a 270 microJ pulse energy. The self-locked phase offset of the 2 microm difference-frequency field is preserved after filamentation. This is to our knowledge the first experimental realization of pulse compression in optical filaments at mid-IR wavelengths (lambda>0.8 microm).
authors.affiliation: Laboratorie d'Optique Appliquée, ENSTA Ecole Polytechnique, CNRS UMR 7639, Palaiseau, France. hauri@ensta.fr
authors.forename: C P
authors.initials: CP
authors.lastname: Hauri
authors.forename: R B
authors.initials: RB
authors.lastname: Lopez-Martens
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authors.initials: CI
authors.lastname: Blaga
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authors.lastname: Schultz
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authors.lastname: Cryan
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authors.lastname: Chirla
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authors.lastname: Colosimo
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authors.lastname: Doumy
authors.forename: A M
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authors.lastname: March
authors.forename: C
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authors.lastname: Roedig
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authors.lastname: Tate
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authors.lastname: Wheeler
authors.forename: L F
authors.initials: LF
authors.lastname: Dimauro
authors.forename: E P
authors.initials: EP
authors.lastname: Power