Abstract

We demonstrate the feasibility of strong (up to atomic fields) and supershort (few-femtosecond or even subfemtosecond) subcycle (nonoscillating) electromagnetic solitons [EM bubbles (EMB’s)] in a gas of two-level atoms as well as EMB’s and preionization shock waves in classically nonlinear atoms. We show that EMB’s can be generated by existing sources of radiation, including subpicosecond half-cycle pulses and short laser pulses. We investigate how EMB characteristics are controlled by those of originating pulses. Our most recent results are focused on related transient phenomena, including EMB formation length, multibubble generation, and shocklike waves.

© 1997 Optical Society of America

Electromagnetic bubble generation by half-cycle pulses

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Coherent control of a multilevel resonant medium by subcycle pulses

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