SPONTANEOUS COMPRESSION OF POWERFUL LASER PULSES IN A NEUTRAL DISPERSION MEDIUM

Аннотация

The spontaneous compression of high-intensity laser pulses in a neutral dispersion medium was investigated experimentally and theoretically. This phenomenon arises due to the interplay between nonlinear self-phase modulation and linear dispersion, leading to significant temporal shortening of the pulse without the need for external compression techniques. A femtosecond laser system was employed to generate high-power pulses, which were then propagated through a carefully selected medium with near-zero group velocity dispersion. Spectral and temporal measurements confirmed the occurrence of pulse compression, with observed reductions in pulse duration by up to a factor of three. Numerical simulations based on the nonlinear Schrödinger equation supported the experimental findings, demonstrating that the effect is highly dependent on the initial pulse energy and the medium’s nonlinear refractive index. These results suggest potential applications in ultrafast optics, where efficient pulse compression is essential for high-field physics and precision spectroscopy.