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Ultrafast imaging the light-speed propagation of a focused femtosecond laser pulse in air and its ionized electron dynamics and plasma-induced pulse reshaping

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Abstract

The light-speed propagation of a focused femtosecond (fs) laser pulse in air was recorded by a pump–probe shadowgraph imaging technique with femtosecond time resolution. The ultrafast dynamics of the laser-ionized electrons were studied, which revealed a strong reshaping of the laser field due to laser–air nonlinear interaction. The influence of laser fluence and focusing conditions on the pulse reshaping was studied, and it was found that: (1) double foci are formed due to the refocusing effect when the laser fluence is higher than 500 J/cm2 and the focusing numeric aperture (NA) is higher than 0.30; and (2) a higher NA focusing lens can better inhibit the prefocusing effect and nonlinear distortion in the Gaussian beam waist.

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Acknowledgments

This research was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC) (Grants 91323301 and 51375051), National Basic Research Program of China (973 Program) (Grant 2011CB013000), and Cultivation Fund of the Key Scientific and Technical Innovation Project, Ministry of Education of China (No. 708018).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Laser Micro/Nano Fabrication Laboratory, School of Mechanical Engineering, Beijing Institute of Technology, Beijing, 100081, People’s Republic of China

    Yanwu Yu, Lan Jiang, Qiang Cao, Xueshong Shi, Qingsong Wang & Guoyan Wang

  2. Department of Electrical Engineering, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, Lincoln, NE, 68588-0511, USA

    Yongfeng Lu

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  1. Yanwu Yu
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  2. Lan Jiang
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  3. Qiang Cao
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Correspondence to Lan Jiang.

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Yu, Y., Jiang, L., Cao, Q. et al. Ultrafast imaging the light-speed propagation of a focused femtosecond laser pulse in air and its ionized electron dynamics and plasma-induced pulse reshaping. Appl. Phys. A 122, 205 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00339-016-9773-8

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