Self-pinching of pulsed laser beams

during lamentary propagation

Carsten Br ee
1,2
, Ayhan Demircan
1
, Stefan Skupin
3,4
, Luc Berg e
5
, and
G unter Steinmeyer
2
1
Weierstra-Institut f ur Angewandte Analysis und Stochastik (WIAS), Mohrenstrae 39,
10117 Berlin, Germany
2
Max-Born-Institut (MBI), Max-Born-Strae 2a, 12489 Berlin, Germany
3
Max-Planck-Institut f ur Physik komplexer Systeme, 01187 Dresden, Germany
4
Institut f ur Festk orpertheorie und -optik, Friedrich-Schiller-Universit at, 07743 Jena,
Germany
5
CEA-DAM, DIF, F-91297 Arpajon, France
bree@wias-berlin.de
Abstract: Competing nonlinear optical effects that act on femtosecond
laser pulses propagating in a self-generated light lament may give rise to a
pronounced radial beam deformation, similar to the z-pinch contraction of
pulsed high-current discharges. This self-generated spatial beam contraction
is accompanied by a pulse break-up that can be benecially exploited for
on-axis temporal compression of the pulse. The pinching mechanism there-
fore explains the recently observed self-compression and the complicated
spatio-temporal shapes typical for lament propagation experiments.
2009 Optical Society of America
OCIS codes: 320.5520 (Pulse compression); 320.7110 (Ultrafast nonlinear optics)
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Magneto-hydrodynamics (MHD) provides effective mechanisms for increasing the electron
density within high-current pulsed discharges. In the plasma channel the self-generated mag-
netic eld may act to radially focus the electron uence to near-thermonuclear current densi-
ties, with the z-pinch [1, 2] being one of the most prominent examples. In contrast, laser pulse
compression [35] has traditionally pursued energy concentration along the longitudinal axis
rather than radial contraction. In the following we show that inside a light lament, the com-
bination of only three effects, namely diffraction, Kerr self-focusing, and plasma-induced self-
defocusing, holds for a radial contraction mechanism acting on the photon uence. In analogy
to the z-pinching in MHD, we call this mechanism self-pinching. This phenomenon gives rise
to spatio-temporally inhomogeneous congurations of the optical eld, implying strong tem-
poral variations of the beam radius [6, 7]. In contrast to previous explanations (see, e.g., [79])
of the self-compression in laments that indicated a complex interplay of some ten effects, we
show that only the above-mentioned three spatial effects sufce for self-compression.
Propagation of short laser pulses in a lament involves numerous linear and nonlinear opti-
cal processes that are typically modeled in the framework of a Nonlinear Schr odinger Equation
(NLSE). It is quite remarkable that MHD bears a very similar NLSE for the magnetic eld,
which may give rise to ionospheric laments and mechanisms analogous to self-pinching [10].
As all these scenarios exhibit a complex interplay of linear and nonlinear processes it is gener-
ally difcult to isolate the primary processes leading to the observed phenomena. For the optical
case, however, one can compute characteristic lengths of the participating processes [12] to sort
out group-velocity dispersion, absorption, Kerr-type self-phase modulation and self-steepening,
leaving mainly plasma effects and transverse self-focusing and -defocusing as suspected drivers
behind the experimentally observed self-compression. Such analysis, in particular neglection of
dispersion, is indicative of vanishing energy ow along the temporal axis of a pulse in the la-
ment. This essentially leaves particle densities and respective uences as key parameters, simi-
lar to the situation in MHD. Let us therefore restrict ourselves to analyzing radial energy ow,
for which we use an extended NLSE in cylindrical coordinates (r, t) [13]. This extended NLSE
effectively couples the photon density to the electron density . Compared to the full model
#113266 - $15.00 USD Received 25 Jun 2009; revised 5 Aug 2009; accepted 6 Aug 2009; published 31 Aug 2009
(C) 2009 OSA 14 September 2009 / Vol. 17, No. 19 / OPTICS EXPRESS 16430
equations [7], we neglect energy ow along the t-axis and dissipation. These effects have been
proven unimportant in gaseous media at low or atmospheric pressure both, in previous theo-
retical and experimental studies [6, 7]. Consequently, we employ a reduced model considering
only Kerr-type self-focusing and plasma defocusing as main dynamic effects during lament
formation in gases:

z
E =
i
2k
0
r

r
r
r
E +
i
0
c
n
2
|E |
2
E
i
0
2n
0
c
c
(I)E , (1)
(I) =
nt
_
1exp
_

t
_

dt

W[I(t

)]
_
_
. (2)
Here, z is the propagation variable, t the retarded time, and
0
is the central laser frequency at

0
=2n
0
/k
0
=800 nm. n
2
is the nonlinear refraction index. Photon densities are described via
the complex optical eld envelope E , with I =|E |
2
. The wavelength-dependent critical plasma
density is calculated from the Drude model according to
c

2
0
m
e

0
/q
2
e
, where q
e
and m
e
are
electron charge and mass, respectively,
0
is the dielectric constant, c the speed of light, and

nt
denotes the neutral density. Plasma generation is driven by the ionization rate W[I], which
is suitably described by Perelomov-Popov-Terentev (PPT) theory [14]. For our investigations,
we use data for argon [7] at atmospheric pressure.
In the following, we search for a eld conguration that represents a stationary state in
regimes where a Kerr-induced optical collapse is saturated by plasma defocusing. The cor-
responding temporal intensity proles that maintain a balance between competing nonlinear
effects in every temporal point are derived from a time-dependent variational approach, with
the following trial function
E =
_
P
R
2
exp
_

r
2
2R
2
+i
k
0
r
2

z
R
2R
_
. (3)
The quadratic phase guarantees preservation of continuity equations through self-similar sub-
stitutions, and the pulse radius R R(z, t) depends on both the longitudinal and temporal vari-
ables. For conservative systems preserving the power P(t) 2

_
0
I(t)rdr along z, straightfor-
ward algebra provides the virial-type identity [15]

2
z

_
0
r
3
|E |
2
dr =
2
k
2
0

_
0
r|
r
E |
2
dr

2n
2
n
0

_
0
r|E |
4
dr
1
n
2
0

_
0
|E |
2
r
2

r
dr. (4)
Inserting the trial function (3) with R(z, t) = w(z, t)/

2 being related to the Gaussian spot

size w(z, t), one obtains a dynamical equation governing the evolution of the pulse radius R
along z [15]. For the derivation of analytical expressions for the plasma term on the r.h.s. of
Eq. (4), we approximate the PPT ionization rate by a power law dependence W[I] =
N
I
N

,
with parameters N

=6.13 and
N
=1.9410
74
s
1
cm
2N

W
N

tted to the PPT rate for the

intensity range of 80TW/cm
2
. Using I(t) = P(t)/R
2
(t), we impose a Gaussian power prole
P(t) = P
in
exp(2t
2
/t
2
p
) with duration t
p
and peak input power P
in
as a boundary condition,
which results in the following integral equation for steady state solutions,
0 = 1
P(t)
P
cr
+P
2
(t)
t
_

dt

I
N

+1
(t

)
P(t

)
1
(I(t) +N

I(t

)
P(t)
P(t

)
)
2
, (5)
#113266 - $15.00 USD Received 25 Jun 2009; revised 5 Aug 2009; accepted 6 Aug 2009; published 31 Aug 2009
(C) 2009 OSA 14 September 2009 / Vol. 17, No. 19 / OPTICS EXPRESS 16431
Delay (fs)
0
-20
-40
100%
50%
0
I
n
t
e
n
s
i
t
y
(b)
0
100
R
a
d
i
u
s

(

m
)
200
300
45 30 15 0 15 30
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
Delay (fs)
I
n
t
e
n
s
i
t
y

(
T
W
/
c
m
2
)
(a)
t
*
Fig. 1. (a) Spectrum of solutions I(t) of Eq. (5). (b) Spatio-temporal representation of the
solution of Eq. (5) marked in red [see (a)], obtained by rotating the line segment generated
by R(t) =
_
P(t)/I(t) around the taxis. Color corresponds to on-axis intensity.
with P
cr
=
2
0
/(2n
0
n
2
) and = k
2
0
N

N

nt
/
c
.
Equation (5) is basically a generalization of a Volterra-Urysohn integral equation [16], with
a kernel depending not only on I(t

) but also on I(t). Using additional simplifying assump-

tions, steady-state solutions with soliton-like qualities have been previously discussed [13].
Here we solve Eq. (5) without the approximations made in Ref. [13]. Taking into account that
the integral term of Eq. (5) is strictly positive, it immediately follows that nontrivial solutions
only exist on the temporal interval t

<t <t

where P(t) > P

cr
, with t

= (ln
_
P
in
/P
cr
)
1/2
t
p
.
From a physical point of view, Kerr self-focusing can compensate for diffraction only on this
interval, enabling the existence of a stationary state. For computing a stationary solution I(t)
of the integral equation, we use the method presented in [17] which combines a Chebyshev
approximation of the unknown I(t) with a Clenshaw-Curtis quadrature formula [18] for the
integral term. As the laser beam parameters, we choose a ratio P
in
/P
cr
= 2 and a pulse dura-
tion t
FWHM
=

2ln2t
p
100 fs, leading to t

50 fs. The spectrum of solutions thus obtained

is depicted in Fig. 1(a). As 1 P(t)/P
cr
vanishes at the boundaries, there exists a continuum
of multiple roots. All solutions show a strongly asymmetric temporal shape, with an intense
leading subpulse localized at t = t

[13] and a minimum [dashed line in Fig. 1(a)] localized

near zero delay, followed by a region of rapid intensity increase, suggesting singular behav-
ior of the solutions. Filamentation is known to proceed from a dynamical balance between
the Kerr and plasma responses, and a steady-state solution cannot strictly be reached by the
physical system. Nevertheless, Eq. (5) provides deep insight into the conguration that the
pulse prole tends to achieve in the lamentary regime. The structure of the emerging solutions
[Fig. 1(b)] indeed indicates the formation of two areas of high on-axis intensity being separated
by an approximately 20 fs wide defocused zone of strongly reduced intensity. While similar
double-peaked on-axis intensities have already been observed in numerical simulations and ex-
periments [6, 2124] many authors considered a parasitic dispersive break-up in bulk media or
optical bers. Despite its supercial similarity, however, such a break-up cannot be exploited
for the compression of isolated femtosecond pulses as will be done below. Interestingly, we
observe a comparable dynamical behavior as reported for condensed media, where temporal
break-up around zero-delay and the subsequent emergence of nonlinear X-waves occurs. These
X-waves were recently proposed to constitute attractors of the lament dynamics [19, 20].
For a deeper substantiation of our analytical model, we perform direct numerical simulations
using the reduced radially symmetric evolution model Eq. (1) for the envelope of the optical
eld. The incident eld is modeled as a Gaussian in space and time with w
0
:= w(z = 0, t) =
2.5mm and identical peak input power and pulse duration as used for the solutions of Eq. (5).
The eld is focused into the medium with an f =1.5m lens. The result of these simulations can
#113266 - $15.00 USD Received 25 Jun 2009; revised 5 Aug 2009; accepted 6 Aug 2009; published 31 Aug 2009
(C) 2009 OSA 14 September 2009 / Vol. 17, No. 19 / OPTICS EXPRESS 16432
Fig. 2. (a) Evolution of the on-axis temporal intensity prole along z for the reduced numer-
ical model governed by Eq. (1). (b) Same for the simulation of the full model equations [7].
be considered as prototypical for the pulse shaping effect inside laments. These simulations
also demonstrate that spatial effects alone already sufce for lamentary self-compression. As
the evolution of the on-axis temporal intensity prole in Fig. 2(a) reveals, lamentary com-
pression always undergoes two distinct phases. Initially, while z approaches the nonlinear focus
(z =1.41.5 m), a dominant leading peak is observed. When the trailing part of the pulse refo-
cuses in the efciently ionized zone (
max
510
16
cm
3
) a double-spiked structure emerges.
This transient double pulse structure conrms the pulse break-up predicted from the analysis of
Eq. (5), see Figs. 3(a) and (c), and is compatible with the stationary shapes detailed in Fig. 1(a).
Subsequently, only one of the emerging peaks survives and experiences further pulse shaping
in the lamentary channel.
At z = 1.7 m the leading subpulse has already been reduced to a fraction of its original on-
axis intensity. This effective attenuation of the leading pulse isolates the trailing pulse that now
exhibits a duration t
FWHM
= 27 fs. The combined split-up and isolation during the rst phase
therefore already provides an about fourfold compression of the 100 fs input pulses. In the
subsequent weakly ionized zone of the lament (z > 1.6m), the surviving, trailing subpulse is
then subject to additional temporal compression. At z = 2.5 m our simulations indicate pulses
as short as t
FWHM
= 13 fs [Fig. 3(b)], which agrees favorably with the experimental results
in Ref [6]. In contrast to the plasma-mediated self-compression in the strongly ionized zone,
compression in the second zone is solely driven by the Kerr nonlinearity ( < 10
13
cm
3
).
With time slices of higher optical powers being able to compensate diffraction by Kerr self-
focusing, these portions of the pulse diffract less rapidly than time slices with less optical power.
Compared to a linear optical diffraction-ruled scenario, the nonlinear optical effects therefore
lead to the formation of a characteristic pinch. This emerging spatial structure is depicted in
Fig. 3(d). This clearly sets the self-pinching mechanism apart from numerous previous reports
on seemingly similar dynamics.
For an analytic description of temporal compression during further lamentary propaga-
tion, we use the dynamical equation for the time dependent beam radius derived from Eqs. (3)
and (4) [15], yet neglecting the plasma term. With the initial conditions R(z = z
0
, t) = R
0
and
z
R(z = z
0
, t) 0 the resulting problem is analytically solvable, and we nd R(z, t) =
R
0
_
1+[(z z
0
)/k
0
R
2
0
]
2
(1P(t)/P
cr
). This equation models the evolution of the plasma-
free lamentary channel from z > 1.6 m, assuming P(t) P
cr
. The prole P(t) represents
the power contained in the lament core region only. For simplicity, we assume here P(t) =
P
cr
exp(2t
2
/t
2
p
), R
0
= 100 m and t
p
= 23 fs. This corresponds to the duration of the pulse
at z
0
= 1.7 m shown in Fig. 3(a). Resulting characteristic spatio-temporal shapes are shown in
#113266 - $15.00 USD Received 25 Jun 2009; revised 5 Aug 2009; accepted 6 Aug 2009; published 31 Aug 2009
(C) 2009 OSA 14 September 2009 / Vol. 17, No. 19 / OPTICS EXPRESS 16433
0
20
40
60
80
I
(
r
=
0
)

(
T
W
/
c
m
2
)
0
1
2
3
4
5
Delay (fs)
100 0 100
r

(
m
m
)
0.5
0
0.5
Delay (fs)
100 0 100
(b) (a)
(c) (d)
D
e
la
y
(fs
)
100
0
100
0
100%
50%
On-axis intensity
Fig. 3. (a) Pulse sequence illustrating the two-stage self-compression mechanism. Shown
are the on-axis intensity proles for z = 1.5 m (solid line), z = 1.55 m (dashed line) and z =
1.7 m (dashed-dotted line). (b) Self-compressed few-cycle pulse at z = 2.5 m. (c) Spatio-
temporal characteristics of the double-spiked structure at z = 1.55 m. (d) Same for the few-
cycle pulse at z = 2.5 m.
Fig. 4, clearly revealing the presence of self-pinching in this Kerr-dominated stage of propaga-
tion and the dominant role it plays for on-axis temporal compression.
So far our analysis has completely neglected dispersion, self-steepening and losses. To con-
vince ourselves that dissipation and temporal coupling between time slices have only a mod-
ifying effect on the discussed self-compression scenario, we pursued full simulations of the
lament propagation, including few-cycle corrections and space-time focusing [7]. As shown
in Fig. 2(b), minor parameter adjustment, setting w
0
= 3.5 mm and leaving all other laser beam
parameters the same value, sufces to see pulse self-compression within the full model equa-
tions. Now self-steepening provides a much more effective compression mechanism in the trail-
ing part. However, the comparison of Fig. 2(a) with (b) also reveals that the dynamical behavior
changes only slightly upon inclusion of temporal effects. Clearly, the same two-stage compres-
sion mechanism is observed as in the reduced model. We therefore conclude that the pulse
break-up dynamics in the efciently ionized zone is already inherent to the reduced dynamical
system governed by Eq. (1). Rather than relying on the interplay of self-phase modulation and
dispersion as in traditional laser pulse compression, lament self-compression is essentially a
spatial effect, conveyed by the interplay of Kerr self-focusing and plasma self-defocusing. This
dominance of spatial effects favorably agrees with the spatial replenishment model of Mlejnek
et al. [21]. However, our model indicates previously undiscussed consequences on the tempo-
ral pulse structure on axis of the lament, leading to the emergence of the pinch-like structure
[Fig. 3(d)] that restricts effective self-compression to the spatial center of the lament [7, 25].
Our analysis conrms the existence of a leading subpulse, in the wake of which the short self-
compressed pulse is actually shaped during the rst stage of lamentary propagation. This
leading structure gives rise to a pronounced temporal asymmetry of self-compressed pulses,
which is conrmed in experiments [7].
While qualitatively similar break-up processes have frequently been observed in laser la-
#113266 - $15.00 USD Received 25 Jun 2009; revised 5 Aug 2009; accepted 6 Aug 2009; published 31 Aug 2009
(C) 2009 OSA 14 September 2009 / Vol. 17, No. 19 / OPTICS EXPRESS 16434
(a)
(c) (d)
(b)
-25
0
25
D
e
la
y
(fs)
0
0.2
0.4
r
(
m
m
)
0
50%
100%
On-axis
intensity
Fig. 4. Sequence of pulses illustrating temporal self-compression due to Kerr-induced spa-
tial self-pinching in the variational model corresponding to (a) z = 1.7 m, (b) z = 1.9 m, (c)
z = 2.1 m and (d) z = 2.3 m.
ments, our analysis identies the spatially induced temporal break-up as a rst step for efcient
on-axis compression of an isolated pulse. In our case, the leading break-up portion is eventu-
ally observed to diffract out and to reduce its intensity, while the trailing pulse can maintain its
peak intensity. A subsequent stage, dominated by diffraction and Kerr nonlinearity, serves to
further compress the emerging isolated pulse, and may give rise to almost tenfold on-axis pulse
compression. The main driver behind this complex scenario is a dynamic interplay between ra-
dial effects, namely diffraction, Kerr-type self-focusing, and, exclusively close to the geometric
focus, plasma defocusing. The dominance of spatial effects clearly indicates the unavoidabil-
ity of a pronounced spatio-temporal pinch structure of self-compressed pulses. The frequently
observed pedestals in this method are identied as remainders of the suppressed leading pulse
from the original split-up. Our analysis also indicates that lower pulse energies <1 mJ requiring
more nonlinear gases or higher pressures will see an increased inuence of dispersive coupling,
which can eventually render pulse self-compression difcult to achieve. Higher energies, how-
ever, may not see such limitation, opening a perspective for future improvement of few-cycle
pulse self-compression schemes.
Financial support by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft, grants DE 1209/1-1 and STE
762/7-1, is gratefully acknowledged. We acknowledge support by the GENCI project N
o
x2009106003.
#113266 - $15.00 USD Received 25 Jun 2009; revised 5 Aug 2009; accepted 6 Aug 2009; published 31 Aug 2009
(C) 2009 OSA 14 September 2009 / Vol. 17, No. 19 / OPTICS EXPRESS 16435