Megafilament in air formed by self-guided terawatt long-wavelength infrared laser

Sergei Tochitsky; Eric Welch; Mikhail Polyanskiy; Igor Pogorelsky; Paris Panagiotopoulos; Miroslav Kolesik; Ewan M. Wright; Stephan W. Koch; Jerome V. Moloney; Jeremy Pigeon; Chan Joshi

doi:10.1038/s41566-018-0315-0

Megafilament in air formed by self-guided terawatt long-wavelength infrared laser

Sergei Tochitsky, Eric Welch, Mikhail Polyanskiy, Igor Pogorelsky, Paris Panagiotopoulos, Miroslav Kolesik, Ewan M. Wright, Stephan W. Koch, Jerome V. Moloney, Jeremy Pigeon, Chan Joshi

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

91 Scopus citations

Abstract

The diffraction-compensated propagation of high-power laser beams in air could open up new opportunities for atmospheric applications such as remote stand-off detection, long-range projection of high-energy laser pulses and free-space communications. Here, we experimentally demonstrate that a self-guided terawatt picosecond CO ₂ laser beam forms in air a single centimetre-scale-diameter megafilament that, in comparison with a short-wavelength laser filament, has four orders of magnitude larger cross-section and guides many joules of pulse energy over multiple Rayleigh distances at a clamped intensity of ~10 ¹² W cm ^–2 . We discover that this megafilament arises from the balance between self-focusing, diffraction and defocusing caused by free carriers generated via many-body Coulomb-induced ionization that effectively decrease the molecular polarizability during the long-wavelength laser pulse. Modelling reveals that this guiding scheme may enable transport of high-power picosecond infrared pulses over many kilometres in the 8–14 μm atmospheric transmission window.

Original language	English (US)
Pages (from-to)	41-46
Number of pages	6
Journal	Nature Photonics
Volume	13
Issue number	1
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1038/s41566-018-0315-0
State	Published - Jan 1 2019

ASJC Scopus subject areas

Electronic, Optical and Magnetic Materials
Atomic and Molecular Physics, and Optics

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title = "Megafilament in air formed by self-guided terawatt long-wavelength infrared laser",

abstract = " The diffraction-compensated propagation of high-power laser beams in air could open up new opportunities for atmospheric applications such as remote stand-off detection, long-range projection of high-energy laser pulses and free-space communications. Here, we experimentally demonstrate that a self-guided terawatt picosecond CO 2 laser beam forms in air a single centimetre-scale-diameter megafilament that, in comparison with a short-wavelength laser filament, has four orders of magnitude larger cross-section and guides many joules of pulse energy over multiple Rayleigh distances at a clamped intensity of ~10 12 W cm –2 . We discover that this megafilament arises from the balance between self-focusing, diffraction and defocusing caused by free carriers generated via many-body Coulomb-induced ionization that effectively decrease the molecular polarizability during the long-wavelength laser pulse. Modelling reveals that this guiding scheme may enable transport of high-power picosecond infrared pulses over many kilometres in the 8–14 μm atmospheric transmission window.",

author = "Sergei Tochitsky and Eric Welch and Mikhail Polyanskiy and Igor Pogorelsky and Paris Panagiotopoulos and Miroslav Kolesik and Wright, {Ewan M.} and Koch, {Stephan W.} and Moloney, {Jerome V.} and Jeremy Pigeon and Chan Joshi",

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doi = "10.1038/s41566-018-0315-0",

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AU - Welch, Eric

AU - Polyanskiy, Mikhail

AU - Pogorelsky, Igor

AU - Panagiotopoulos, Paris

AU - Kolesik, Miroslav

AU - Wright, Ewan M.

AU - Koch, Stephan W.

AU - Moloney, Jerome V.

AU - Pigeon, Jeremy

AU - Joshi, Chan

PY - 2019/1/1

Y1 - 2019/1/1

N2 - The diffraction-compensated propagation of high-power laser beams in air could open up new opportunities for atmospheric applications such as remote stand-off detection, long-range projection of high-energy laser pulses and free-space communications. Here, we experimentally demonstrate that a self-guided terawatt picosecond CO 2 laser beam forms in air a single centimetre-scale-diameter megafilament that, in comparison with a short-wavelength laser filament, has four orders of magnitude larger cross-section and guides many joules of pulse energy over multiple Rayleigh distances at a clamped intensity of ~10 12 W cm –2 . We discover that this megafilament arises from the balance between self-focusing, diffraction and defocusing caused by free carriers generated via many-body Coulomb-induced ionization that effectively decrease the molecular polarizability during the long-wavelength laser pulse. Modelling reveals that this guiding scheme may enable transport of high-power picosecond infrared pulses over many kilometres in the 8–14 μm atmospheric transmission window.

AB - The diffraction-compensated propagation of high-power laser beams in air could open up new opportunities for atmospheric applications such as remote stand-off detection, long-range projection of high-energy laser pulses and free-space communications. Here, we experimentally demonstrate that a self-guided terawatt picosecond CO 2 laser beam forms in air a single centimetre-scale-diameter megafilament that, in comparison with a short-wavelength laser filament, has four orders of magnitude larger cross-section and guides many joules of pulse energy over multiple Rayleigh distances at a clamped intensity of ~10 12 W cm –2 . We discover that this megafilament arises from the balance between self-focusing, diffraction and defocusing caused by free carriers generated via many-body Coulomb-induced ionization that effectively decrease the molecular polarizability during the long-wavelength laser pulse. Modelling reveals that this guiding scheme may enable transport of high-power picosecond infrared pulses over many kilometres in the 8–14 μm atmospheric transmission window.

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Megafilament in air formed by self-guided terawatt long-wavelength infrared laser

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