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Small-Scale Self-focusing

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Self-focusing: Past and Present

Part of the book series: Topics in Applied Physics ((TAP,volume 114))

Abstract

At high enough power, a beam propagating in a positive n 2 material will spontaneously break up into multiple filaments as a result of a transverse modulational instability. This chapter briefly surveys the essential physics, presents a linearized theory and summarizes experimental examples illustrating the dependence between optimal spatial frequency, gain coefficient, self-focusing length, beam intensity, and beam shape. A number of applications are discussed as well as the impact of this field on other scientific disciplines.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Naval Research Laboratory, Washington, DC 20375, USA

    Anthony J. Campillo

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  1. Anthony J. Campillo
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Editors and Affiliations

  1. University of Rochester, Rochester, NY, UK

    Robert W. Boyd  & Svetlana G. Lukishova  & 

  2. University of California, Berkeley, CA

    Y.R. Shen

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Campillo, A.J. (2009). Small-Scale Self-focusing. In: Boyd, R.W., Lukishova, S.G., Shen, Y. (eds) Self-focusing: Past and Present. Topics in Applied Physics, vol 114. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-0-387-34727-1_6

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