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NONLINEAR OPTICS

Megafilaments in the mid-infrared

Nature Photonics volume 13, pages 7–8 (2019)Cite this article

Focusing short CO2 laser pulses into air reveals rich ionization physics that is best explained by solid-state theories and results in centimetre-scale-diameter megafilaments that transport joules of energy.

In the mid-1960s, the Russian theoretical physicist Leonid Keldysh published his seminal paper ‘Ionization in the field of a strong electromagnetic wave’1. The work was important because it gave birth to the concept of multiphoton ionization, presenting a formal mathematical description as to how intense, short light pulses composed of photons with a frequency below the ionization potential could still result in ionization of an atom. The theory was based on an effective hydrogen atom model and the phenomenon of tunnelling and it was a bold proposal at the time because but it was claimed that the theory had general applicability. It could thus be applied to both solid-state materials as well as to gases, despite the complexity of the band structure in the solid state.

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Fig. 1: Optical filamentation is often accompanied by supercontinuum generation, which can encompass large wavelength ranges from the mid-infrared into the visible.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Max-Born-Institut, Berlin, Germany

    Günter Steinmeyer

  2. Institut für Physik, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Berlin, Germany

    Günter Steinmeyer

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  1. Günter Steinmeyer
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Correspondence to Günter Steinmeyer.

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Steinmeyer, G. Megafilaments in the mid-infrared. Nature Photon 13, 7–8 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41566-018-0329-7

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