title: Sub-1.5-cycle pulses from a single filament.
abstract: The temporal dynamics of ultrashort laser pulses undergoing filamentary propagation are investigated with a real-time stereographic above-threshold ionization (ATI) phasemeter. The experimental setup is capable of measuring the pulse duration as well as the carrier-envelope phase distribution of pulses originating from a femtosecond filament, which is either truncated in length or fully propagated. Truncation, by means of a semi-infinite gas cell, allows to elucidate the nonlinear evolution and temporal dynamics of ultrashort laser pulses as a function of the propagation length. We observe the formation of few-cycle pulses as well as temporal pulse splitting dynamics during the propagation of the pulse inside the filament. For the first time, we demonstrate the compression of 35 fs pulses down to a duration of sub-4 fs in a single femtosecond filament. This corresponds to sub-1.5 cycles of the electric field.
authors.affiliation: Leibniz Universität Hannover, Institut für Quantenoptik, Welfengarten 1, D-30167 Hannover, Germany.
authors.forename: Daniel S
authors.initials: DS
authors.lastname: Steingrube
authors.forename: Martin
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Kretschmar
authors.forename: Dominik
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Hoff
authors.forename: Emilia
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Schulz
authors.forename: Thomas
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Binhammer
authors.forename: Peter
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Hansinger
authors.forename: Gerhard G
authors.initials: GG
authors.lastname: Paulus
authors.forename: Uwe
authors.initials: U
authors.lastname: Morgner
authors.forename: Milutin
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Kovačev
mesh_terms: D019544:Equipment Failure Analysis / Q000295:instrumentation*; D007834:Lasers; D011829:Radiation Dosage; D011874:Radiometry / Q000295:instrumentation*