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Self-reconstruction of light filaments

A. Dubietis, E. Ku inskas, G. Tamo auskas, and E. Gaiauskas c s
Department of Quantum Electronics, Vilnius University, Sauletekio Avenue 9, Building 3, LT-10222 Vilnius, Lithuania

M. A. Porras
Departamento de Fisica Aplicada, Universidad Politecnica de Madrid, Rios Rosa 21, E-28003 Madrid, Spain

P. Di Trapani
Istituto Nazionale di Fisica della Materia and Department of Physics and Mathematics, University of Insubria, Via Valleggio 11, IT-22100 Como, Italy Received May 26, 2004 By observing how a light filament generated in water reconstructs itself after hitting a beam stopper in the presence and in the absence of a nonlinear medium, we describe the occurrence of an important linear contribution to reconstruction that is associated with the conical nature of the wave. A possible scenario by which conical wave components are generated inside the medium by the distributed stopper or ref lector created by nonlinear losses or plasma is presented. 2004 Optical Society of America OCIS codes: 190.5530, 260.5950.

Observation of apparently long femtosecond light filaments in water1 has prompted an investigation of the underlying physics. Complementary experiments and related theoretical research2 have demonstrated that these f ilaments are not solitonlike self-guided beams and have led to the hypotheses that filaments are conical wave packets that appear spontaneously owing to interplay among diffraction, self-focusing, and nonlinear losses (NLLs). The hypothesis that filaments are conical, nonlinear X waves3,4 was presented in Ref. 5, in which the authors outlined the possible key role of material dispersion instead of NLL. The nature of conical waves implies that propagation of the central spike (filament) is structurally sustained and continuously ref illed by a low-intensity, surroundingbeam energy reservoir, as originally proposed in Ref. 6. Further experimental evidence of the refilling effect has been provided by high-resolution detection of the spatiotemporal wave prof ile, which has shown temporal splitting that occurs at on-axis intensity but not for the pulse as a whole.7 The situation suggests two relevant questions. The first one concerns the possible occurrence of a nonsolitary f ilament regime not only in water (or in condensed matter) but also in gases. Experimental evidence of the robustness of powerful air filaments after they suffer collisions with water droplets in clouds8 already has provided a compelling argument in support of the generality of the process, as has been clearly stated by Kolesik and Moloney,9 who interpreted the process as nonlinear replenishment caused by the expulsion of light from the ring-shaped plasma channel beyond the droplet. The second question, which is the concern of the research reported here, is related to the possible role of linear replenishment in filament reconstruction and, more generally, in filament dynamics. Indeed, it is well known that self-reconstruction is an inherent property of conical, nondiffracting waves, as has been experimentally demonstrated with
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Bessel beams not only in the nonlinear10,11 but also in the linear regime.12,13 What still deserves direct experimental demonstration is evidence of the effect of this linear mechanism in supporting light-f ilament reconstruction and, eventually, its quasi-stationary propagation. We mention that the hypothesis of an important linear contribution to the f ilament regime follows straightforwardly from the recent analysis of the stationary solution of the (continuouswave) nonlinear Schrdinger equation with NLL.14 Within the context of the adopted model, the stationarity of the solution results from the combined action of both linear and nonlinear effects: The linear effect is indeed due to the conical shape of the beam, which is due to the imbalance between the incoming and outgoing Hankel components of the solution supports and the inward power f lux that permits NLL compensation; the second effect is a nonlinear (Kerr) self-focusing action, which shrinks the hot, central spot and so acts in support of stationarity by limiting the overall losses in the beam. In this Letter we provide what is to our knowledge the f irst experimental evidence of the existence and importance of a linear contribution to filament reconstruction and propagation that is associated with the conical structure of the wave. We began the experiment by launching a 527-nm, 200-fs spatially filtered and focused beam with a 90-mm FWHM waist located at the input facet of a syringe-shaped water cell, which permitted continuous tuning of the samples length. The magnif ied output beam was imaged onto a CCD camera (Cohu, 10-bit dynamic range) by means of an f 145 mm achromatic 1.15 MW) objective. The incident power (8Pcr ; Pcr was adjusted to excite a single filament, which has an almost constant 20-mm FWHM diameter in the z 15 40-mm range. The central spike (filament) of the resultant wave packet was blocked by a 35-mm beam stopper printed on a thin (100-mm) BK7 glass
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plate. The position of the beam stopper was chosen at z 18 mm, where the f ilament already exhibits stationary propagation. The nonlinear dynamic was described by numerical solution of the 3D 1 1 (spatiotemporal) nonlinear Schrdinger equation in the presence of NLL, i.e., within the context of a toy model similar to that used in the research reported in Ref. 2 with the inclusion of time and chromatic dispersion in the present case. Note that all the effects related to plasma formation are neglected. The material response was modeled by use of the same effective parameters as in Ref. 2. Figure 1 illustrates the calculated evolution (relative to propagation coordinate z) of the beam-f luence prof ile (the time-integrated intensity in a transverse dimension) of both freely propagating (top) and blocked (bottom) filaments in water. The result shows that a central spike of nearly the original dimensions reappears after a few millimeters of propagation beyond the stopper. Note how even higher intensities, smaller diameters, and longer stationarity are reached when the stopper is inserted. Figure 2 presents the corresponding experimentally measured beam-f luence prof iles at different propagation lengths for a blocked filament. The results clearly outline the self-reconstruction dynamics whose key features are in optimum agreement with the toy-model predictions; see the results in Fig. 5(a) below. In a second experiment we investigated free propagation and self-reconstruction of a water filament in free space (i.e., in air, where the propagation is linear at the power level involved). We began the new experiment by placing the stopper outside the water cell, under input conditions identical to those described above. Figure 3 shows the calculated f luence prof iles for the free (top) and the blocked (bottom) f ilaments. Both nonlinearity and dispersion were switched off for z . 18 mm. Figure 4 illustrates the corresponding experimentally measured beam-f luence prof iles for a blocked filament, whose features agree with the model prediction; see also Fig. 5(b). Although apparent diffraction of the central spike takes place, selfreconstruction is evident beyond the stopper. Figure 5 shows a summary of measurements and calculation by presenting FWHM beam radii versus z for the same cases depicted in Figs. 1 4. The comparison of f ilament propagation in free space [Figs. 3, 4, and 5(b)] and in water [Figs. 1, 2, and 5(a)] makes evident the presence and the interplay of the two expected contributions to f ilament reconstruction. One contribution is a linear, geometric effect, which we attribute to the conical structure of the wave.12,13 It leads to the fast (i.e., within one Rayleigh range) reconstruction of the central spot in air and to its further spread, as expected for a finite-power linear conical wave. The other is, in contrast, a nonlinear effect, which further contributes to preventing the central spot from spreading and that we interpret as a Kerr self-focusing effect. By placing a small stopper in the (linear) path of a large beam one introduces a perturbation that assumes, within a few diffraction lengths, a conical, Airy-pattern prof ile. What is impressive in the

linear-propagation results shown in Figs. 3, 4, and 5(b) is that, for the chosen size of the stopper, the induced perturbation remains virtually undetectable with propagation. This result indicates that the wave exiting the cuvette and the generated perturbation

Fig. 1. Numerical results for (top) free and (bottom) blocked at z 18 mm filament propagation in water. Transverse dimension, 400 mm.

Fig. 2. Self-reconstruction of a light filament in water. The CCD camera image area is 400 mm 3 400 mm.

Fig. 3. Numerical results for (top) free and (bottom) blocked at z 18 mm f ilament propagation. Note the water air boundary at z 18 mm. The transverse dimensions are the same as in Fig. 1.

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similarity between the angular spectrum of the filament and that created by the stopper suggests a situation in which an effective distributed stopper (or ref lector) is formed inside a nonlinear material, owing to NLL or plasma. The resultant sharp perturbation in the (real or imaginary) index of refraction might contribute to driving the beam transformation from Gaussian to conical, in conjunction with other phase-modulation effects such as those associated with the external-beam focusing that occurs when a beams top is f lattened owing to NLL.2 P. Di Trapani acknowledges discussions with D. Salerno. The authors acknowledge f inancial support from the European Community Centre of Excellence in Cell Biology and Lasers (CEBIOLA contract ICA1-CT2000-70027) and Ministero dellUniversit e della RicercaFondo per gli Investimenti della Ricerca di Base contract MIUR FIRB01. A. Dubietiss e-mail address is audrius.dubietis@ff.vu.lt. References
1. A. Dubietis, G. Tamo auskas, I. Diomin, and A. s Varanavi ius, Opt. Lett. 28, 1269 (2003). c 2. A. Dubietis, E. Gaiauskas, G. Tamo auskas, and P. s Di Trapani, Phys. Rev. Lett. 92, 253903 (2004). 3. P. Di Trapani, G. Valiulis, A. Piskarskas, O. Jedrkiewicz, J. Trull, C. Conti, and S. Trillo, Phys. Rev. Lett. 91, 093904 (2003). 4. C. Day, Phys. Today 57(10), 25 (2004). 5. M. Kolesik, E. M. Wright, and J. V. Moloney, Phys. Rev. Lett. 92, 253901 (2004). 6. M. Mlejnek, E. M. Wright, and J. V. Moloney, Opt. Lett. 23, 382 (1998). 7. A. Matijo ius, J. Trull, P. Di Trapani, A. Dubietis, R. s Piskarskas, A. Varanavi ius, and A. Piskarskas, Opt. c Lett. 29, 1123 (2004). 8. F. Courvoisier, V. Boutou, J. Kasparian, E. Salmon, G. Mjean, J. Yu, and J.-P. Wolf, Appl. Phys. Lett. 83, 213 (2003). 9. M. Kolesik and J. V. Moloney, Opt. Lett. 29, 590 (2004). 10. S. Sogomonian, S. Klewitz, and S. Herminghaus, Opt. Commun. 139, 313 (1997). 11. R. Butkus, R. Gadonas, J. Janu onis, A. Piskarskas, s K. Regelskis, V. Smilgevi ius, and A. Stabinis, Opt. c Commun. 206, 201 (2002). 12. Z. Bouchal, J. Wagner, and M. Chlup, Opt. Commun. 151, 207 (1998). 13. C. A. McQueen, J. Arlt, and K. Dholakia, Am. J. Phys. 67, 912 (1999). 14. M. A. Porras, A. Parola, D. Faccio, A. Dubietis, and P. Di Trapani, Phys. Rev. Lett. 93, 153902 (2004).

Fig. 4. Self-reconstruction of the central spike in free space (air). The image size is the same as in Fig. 2.

Fig. 5. Summary of the calculated and measured FWHM radii of free-propagating (solid curves and filled circles) and self-reconstructed (dashed curves and open circles) filaments (a) in water and (b) in free space. Arrows denote the locations of (a) the beam stopper and (b) the water air boundary.

have similar angular spectra. The hypothesis sheds some light on a possible mechanism for f ilament formation inside the nonlinear material. Indeed, we can imagine NLL causing a sort of distributed stopper inside the medium (associated with multiple refocusing cycles or even continuously distributed with z), which keeps adding conical components while the beam propagates. We note that a similar effect should be expected in the case of a distributed linear ref lector, as might occur for dominant plasma ref lection. In conclusion, we have experimentally demonstrated a linear contribution to f ilament reconstruction that arises from the conical structure of the wave. The