Abstract
We investigate experimentally the role that the initial temporal profile of ultrashort laser pulses has on the self-focusing dynamics in the anomalous group-velocity dispersion (GVD) regime. We observe that pulse-splitting occurs for super-Gaussian pulses, but not for Gaussian pulses. The splitting does not occur for either pulse shape when the GVD is near-zero. These observations agree with predictions based on the nonlinear Schrödinger equation, and can be understood intuitively using the method of nonlinear geometrical optics.
Original language | English |
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Pages (from-to) | 9309-9314 |
Number of pages | 6 |
Journal | Optics Express |
Volume | 19 |
Issue number | 10 |
DOIs | |
State | Published - 9 May 2011 |