Study of the duration and birefringence of self-trapped filaments in CS2

Small-scale optically trapped filaments in liquid CS
2
were studied by side illumination and crossed polarizers using the second-harmonic radiation of a mode-locked Nd
³⁺
: glass laser. Filaments produced by Nd
³⁺
laser radiation (1.06 μ) exhibited birefringence of magnitude
(2 \pm 1) \times 10^{-3}
and duration times
< 10^{-11}
second.