title: Laser beam self-focusing in turbulent dissipative media.
abstract: A high-power laser beam propagating through a dielectric in the presence of fluctuations is subject to diffraction, dissipation, and optical Kerr nonlinearity. A method of moments was applied to a stochastic, nonlinear enveloped wave equation to analyze the evolution of the long-term spot radius. For propagation in atmospheric turbulence described by a Kolmogorov-von Kármán spectral density, the analysis was benchmarked against field experiments in the low-power limit and compared with simulation results in the high-power regime. Dissipation reduced the effect of self-focusing and led to chromatic aberration.
authors.forename: B
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Hafizi
authors.forename: J R
authors.initials: JR
authors.lastname: Peñano
authors.forename: J P
authors.initials: JP
authors.lastname: Palastro
authors.forename: R P
authors.initials: RP
authors.lastname: Fischer
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: DiComo