Self-phase modulation of an ultra-short laser pulse from laser breakdown plasma

Abstract

The detailed dynamic of an atom in a laser field with strength comparable to the atomic electric field is rich in physics and potential applications. Laser-breakdown plasma-induced spectral shifting in supersonic rare gases jet has been investigated with a sub-picosecond KrF excimer laser focused to peak intensity in the region of 10 15 W/cm 2 . A 1.4mm diameter gas jet target was used in the experiment to minimize the refraction of the laser beam and thus a well-defined focused region was obtained. The typical quasi-periodic spectral shifting structures for helium and argon have been measured at various gas densities. For gas densities below 1×10 20 cm -3 ,both spectral red-shift and blue-shift were observed, indicating the gas is partially ionized, in contrast to the predominantly blue shifted as the gas densities grows high and fully ionized. Compared to the other ultra-short pulse measurement methods, qualitative information about the pulse can be deduced by observing their spectrum after interacting with rare gas.