title: Self-focusing in air with phase-stabilized few-cycle light pulses.
abstract: We investigate the nonlinear optical phenomenon of self-focusing in air with phase-stabilized few-cycle light pulses. This investigation looks at the role of the carrier-envelope phase by observing a filament in air, a nonlinear phenomenon that can be utilized for few-cycle pulse compression [Appl. Phys. B79, 673 (2004)]. We were able to measure the critical power for self-focusing in air to be 18+/-1 GW for a 6.3 fs pulse centered at 800 nm. Using this value and a basic first-order theory, we predicted that the self-focusing distance should deviate by 790 mum as the carrier-envelope phase is shifted from 0 to pi/2 rad. In contrast, the experimental results showed no deviation in the focus distance with a 3sigma upper limit of 180 mum. These counterintuitive results show the need for further study of self-focusing dynamics in the few-cycle regime.
authors.affiliation: Australian Attosecond Science Facility, Centre for Quantum Dynamics, Griffith University, Nathan,Queensland 4111, Australia. dane.laban@gmail.com
authors.forename: D E
authors.initials: DE
authors.lastname: Laban
authors.forename: W C
authors.initials: WC
authors.lastname: Wallace
authors.forename: R D
authors.initials: RD
authors.lastname: Glover
authors.forename: R T
authors.initials: RT
authors.lastname: Sang
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Kielpinski