Self-focusing and Filamentation of Femtosecond Pulses in Air and Condensed Matter: Simulations and Experiments
Résumé
We review the evolution of the modeling of femtosecond filamentation in transparent media from the monochromatic self-trapping model to the development of numerical models including all relevant physical effects. We discuss four self-action effects which occur during filamentation: i) the generation of single cycle pulses by filamentation in gases, ii) the beam self-cleaning effect associated with filamentation, iii) filamentation in an amplifying medium and iv) organization of multiple filaments by various methods.