Donatas Majus

Nature of Spatiotemporal Light Bullets in Bulk Kerr Media

We present a detailed experimental investigation which uncovers the nature of light bullets generated from self-focusing in a bulk dielectric medium with Kerr nonlinearity in the anomalous group velocity dispersion regime. By high dynamic range measurements of three-dimensional intensity profiles, we demonstrate that the light bullets consist of a sharply localized high-intensity core, which carries the self-compressed pulse and contains approximately 25% of the total energy, and a ring-shaped spatiotemporal periphery. Subdiffractive propagation along with dispersive broadening of the light bullets in free space after they exit the nonlinear medium indicate a strong space-time coupling within the bullet. This finding is confirmed by measurements of a spatiotemporal energy density flux that exhibits the same features as a stationary, polychromatic Bessel beam, thus highlighting the nature of the light bullets.

Ultrabroadband supercontinuum and third-harmonic generation in bulk solids with two optical-cycle carrier-envelope phase-stable pulses at 2 μm

We report on the generation of ultrabroadband supercontinuum (SC) by filamentation of two optical-cycle, carrier-envelope phase-stable pulses at 2 μm in fused silica, sapphire, CaF₂ and YAG. The SC spectra extend from 450 nm to more than 2500 nm, and their particular shapes depend on dispersive properties of the materials. Prior to spectral super-broadening, we observe third-harmonic generation, which occurs in the condition of large phase and group velocity mismatch and consists of free and driven components. A double-peaked third-harmonic structure coexists with the SC pulse as demonstrated by the numerical simulations and verified experimentally. The SC pulses have stable carrier envelope phase with short-term rms fluctuations of ∼ 300 mrad, as simultaneously measured in YAG crystal by f-2f and f-3f interferometry, where the latter makes use of intrinsic third-harmonic generation.

Energy deposition dynamics of femtosecond pulses in water

We exploit inverse Raman scattering and solvated electron absorption to perform a quantitative characterization of the energy loss and ionization dynamics in water with tightly focused near-infrared femtosecond pulses. A comparison between experimental data and numerical simulations suggests that the ionization energy of water is 8 eV, rather than the commonly used value of 6.5 eV. We also introduce an equation for the Raman gain valid for ultra-short pulses that validates our experimental procedure.

Spatiotemporal rogue events in femtosecond filamentation

We present experimental and numerical investigations of optical extreme (rogue) event statistics recorded in the regime of femtosecond pulse filamentation in water. In the spectral domain, the extreme events manifest themselves as either large or small extremes of the spectral intensity, justified by right- or left-tailed statistical distributions, respectively. In the time domain, the observed extreme events are associated with pulse splitting and energy redistribution in space and therefore are exquisitely linked to three-dimensional, spatiotemporal dynamics and formation of the X waves.

Rogue-wave-like statistics in ultrafast white-light continuum generation in sapphire.

We experimentally study the statistics of the white-light continuum generated by focusing of 130 fs, 800 nm pulses in a sapphire plate and show that the statistical distributions of the spectral intensity of the blue-shifted continuum components obey the extreme-value statistics. This rogue-wave-like behavior is detected only within a narrow input-pulse energy interval. By the use of numerical simulations, we show that the observed rogue-wave-like behavior is associated with pulse splitting and build-up of intense trailing pulse. The extreme events are thereafter suppressed by the intensity clamping.

Filamentation and light bullet formation dynamics in solid-state dielectric media with weak, moderate and strong anomalous group velocity dispersion

We present a series of measurements, which characterize filamentation dynamics of intense ultrashort laser pulses in the space–time domain, as captured by means of three-dimensional imaging technique in sapphire and fused silica, in the wavelength range of 1.45–2.25 μm, accessing the regimes of weak, moderate and strong anomalous group velocity dispersion (GVD). In the regime of weak anomalous GVD (at 1.45 μm), pulse splitting into two sub-pulses producing a pair of light bullets with spectrally shifted carrier frequencies in both nonlinear media is observed. In contrast, in the regimes of moderate (at 1.8 μm) and strong (at 2.25 μm) anomalous GVD we observe notably different transient dynamics, which however lead to the formation of a single self-compressed quasistationary light bullet with an universal spatiotemporal shape comprised of an extended ring-shaped periphery and a localized intense core that carries the self-compressed pulse.

Extreme events in resonant radiation from three-dimensional light bullets

We report measurements that show extreme events in the statistics of resonant radiation emitted from spatiotemporal light bullets. We trace the origin of these extreme events back to instabilities leading to steep gradients in the temporal profile of the intense light bullet that occur during the initial collapse dynamics. Numerical simulations reproduce the extreme valued statistics of the resonant radiation which are found to be intrinsically linked to the simultaneous occurrence of both temporal and spatial self-focusing dynamics. Small fluctuations in both the input energy and in the spatial phase curvature explain the observed extreme behavior.

Filamentation and Pulse Self-compression in the Anomalous Dispersion Region of Glasses

The propagation of near-infrared ultra-short laser pulses in the regime of anomalous dispersion of transparent solids is associated with a host of self-induced effects including a significant spectral broadening extending from the ultraviolet into the infrared region, pulse self-compression down to few-cycle pulse durations, free and driven third harmonic generation, conical emission and the formation of stable filaments over several cm showing the emergence of conical light bullets. We review measurements performed in different experimental conditions and results of numerical simulations of unidirectional propagation models showing that the interpretation of all these phenomena proceed from the formation of non-spreading conical light bullets during filamentation.

Spatio-temporal rogue events in femtosecond filamentation

Optical rogue waves, recently discovered by Solli et al. [1] constitute a fascinating topic in modern nonlinear optics. Until now, most of the knowledge on optical rogue waves is brought by the studies of supercontinuum generation in optical fibers under different operating conditions. However extreme-value statistics, the most prominent manifestation of rogue waves, is also inherent to various nonlinear optical systems, and to ultrashort pulse filamentation in particular [2].

Extreme Events in Resonant Radiation from 3-dimensional light bullets

We experimentally demonstrate rogue event statistics of dispersive waves from 3-dimensional spatiotemporal light bullets. Similarities to fibre solitons, with the added complexity related to spatiotemporal dynamics render this system ideal for future rogue wave studies.