Open AccessControl of the configuration of multiple femtosecond filaments in air by adaptive wavefront manipulation
Author(s) -
Alexander Englesbe,
Zhaohan He,
J. Nees,
Alexander Thomas,
Andreas Schmitt-Sody,
K. Krushelnick
Publication year - 2016
Publication title -
optics express
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.394
H-Index - 271
ISSN - 1094-4087
DOI - 10.1364/oe.24.006071
Subject(s) - optics , wavefront , deformable mirror , femtosecond , protein filament , adaptive optics , laser , phase (matter) , physics , position (finance) , power (physics) , pulse (music) , materials science , finance , quantum mechanics , detector , economics , composite material
We demonstrate the ability to position single and multiple filaments arbitrarily within the energy reservoir of a high power femtosecond laser pulse. A deformable mirror controlled by a genetic algorithm finds the optimal phase profile for producing filaments at user-defined locations within the energy reservoir to within a quarter of the nominal filament size, on average. This proof-of-principle experiment demonstrates a potential technique for fast control of the configuration of the filaments.