Abstract
The theory of self-focusing has been applied to beams propagating in the atmosphere. The effects of density variation, absorption, and air breakdown which limit the self-focusing through power driven instabilities are estimated. It is found that laser pulses whose pulse lengths are between 10 ns and 10 μs with powers from 102Pc to 103Pc have a chance to self-focus. Here Pc is the critical power for self-focusing in an ideal nonattenuating medium with a nonlinear index of refraction.
© 1987 Optical Society of America
Full Article | PDF ArticleMore Like This
David Metcalf, Pascal de Giovanni, Jerzy Zachorowski, and Michèle Leduc
Appl. Opt. 26(21) 4508-4517 (1987)
Larry B. Stotts, Joseph Peñano, and Vincent J. Urick
Opt. Express 27(11) 15159-15171 (2019)
Oleg M. Efimov
Appl. Opt. 54(22) 6895-6903 (2015)