Light Filaments Without Self Guiding
arXiv:physics/0311072 · doi:10.1103/PhysRevLett.92.253903
Abstract
An examination of the propagation of intense 200 fs pulses in water reveals light filaments not sustained by the balance between Kerr-induced self-focusing and plasma-induced defocusing. Their appearance is interpreted as the consequence of a spontaneous reshaping of the wave packet form a gaussian into a conical wave, driven by the requirement of maximum localization, minimum losses and stationarity in the presence of non-linear absorption.
Submitted to Phys. Rev. Lett. on July 7th, 2003