Enhanced harmonic conversion efficiency in the self-guided propagation of femtosecond ultraviolet laser pulses in argon

N. Kortsalioudakis (1) , M. Tatarakis (2) , N. Vakakis (1) , S. D. Moustaizis (1) , Michel A. Franco (3) , Bernard Prade (3) , André Mysyrowicz (3) , N.A. Papadogiannis (2) , Arnaud Couairon (4) , Stellios Tzortzakis (5)

1 Matter Structure and Laser Physics Laboratory
2 Technological Educational Institute of Crete
3 LOA - Laboratoire d'optique appliquée
4 CPHT - Centre de Physique Théorique [Palaiseau]
5 LULI - Laboratoire pour l'utilisation des lasers intenses

Harmonic generation during the self-guided propagation of femtosecond ultraviolet (UV) laser pulses (248-nm, 450-fs) in argon is investigated. The third (82.7-nm) and fifth (49.6-nm) harmonics are generated in the UV filament. The energy-conversion efficiencies for the harmonics are found to be at least two orders of magnitude higher than those reported in the literature for similar gas pressures. The enhancement is attributed to the quasi-phase matching of the harmonics due to the self-guiding of the driving pulse.

Keywords: filamentation

Domains: Physics [physics]; Physics [physics]; Optics [physics.optics]

N. Kortsalioudakis, M. Tatarakis, N. Vakakis, S. D. Moustaizis, Michel A. Franco, et al.. Enhanced harmonic conversion efficiency in the self-guided propagation of femtosecond ultraviolet laser pulses in argon. Applied Physics B - Laser and Optics, 2005, 80 (2), pp.211-214. ⟨10.1007/s00340-004-1683-3⟩. ⟨hal-00463615⟩