We have shown, for the first time to our knowledge, that the self-compression of high intensity femtosecond optical pulses, preceding by self-focussing, is a general phenomenon that can be observed in different optical media, providing proper control of the experimental conditions. This has been experimentally confirmed in a number of atomic (Ar, Kr) and molecular (CH/sub 4/) gaseous media and in bulk solid material (fused silica). The full space-time trapping of the femtosecond pulses results in the generation (for the first time to our knowledge) of a full-dimensional spatiotemporal soliton (light bullet.
Published in:
Lasers and Electro-Optics, 1999. CLEO/Pacific Rim '99. The Pacific Rim Conference on
(Volume:2
)
Date of Conference: Aug. 30 1999-Sept. 3 1999