title: Control of the configuration of multiple femtosecond filaments in air by adaptive wavefront manipulation.
abstract: We demonstrate the ability to position single and multiple filaments arbitrarily within the energy reservoir of a high power femtosecond laser pulse. A deformable mirror controlled by a genetic algorithm finds the optimal phase profile for producing filaments at user-defined locations within the energy reservoir to within a quarter of the nominal filament size, on average. This proof-of-principle experiment demonstrates a potential technique for fast control of the configuration of the filaments.
authors.forename: Alexander C
authors.initials: AC
authors.lastname: Englesbe
authors.forename: Zhaohan
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: He
authors.forename: John A
authors.initials: JA
authors.lastname: Nees
authors.forename: Alexander G R
authors.initials: AG
authors.lastname: Thomas
authors.forename: Andreas
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Schmitt-Sody
authors.forename: Karl
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Krushelnick