Long range propagation of terawatt laser pulses in the Earth's atmosphere

Summary form only given. When intense TW-fs-laser pulses propagate through the atmosphere, nonlinear effects like self-phase modulation (SPM), self-focusing (SF) or degenerated four-wave mixing (DFWM) cause an immense change of the temporal and spatial profile. The frequency content is changed, too. Depending on the initial beam profile, the pulse duration and other parameters like temporal chirp, one or several filaments are formed. These filaments can be quite stable and propagate for more than 20 meters. It is our aim to use these filaments as a remote sensing technique (novel LIDAR detection technique), allowing a height-resolved multi-component analysis of the atmosphere.