Delocalization of focused intense ultra-short laser pulses in air and transparent solids

摘要

It has been found that both in gases [1] and transparent materials plasma [2], produced by the leading part of tightly focused and intense femtosecond laser pulse, results in strong beam delocalization. It means that essential part of the ultra-short laser pulse energy (actually up to 99%) can be scattered outside the beam caustic. Correspondingly, this effect limits the intensity of light one can achieve under the given focusing conditions.