Intensity clamping in the filament of femtosecond laser radiation

Abstract

We have studied numerically the evolution of the light field intensity and induced refractive index of a medium upon filamentation of femtosecond laser radiation in air. It is shown that the intensity clamping results from the dynamic balance of optical powers of nonlinear lenses, induced by radiation due to the Kerr nonlinearity of air, and laser plasma produced during photoionisation. We have found the relation between the peak values of the light field intensity and the electron density in laser-produced plasma, as well as the transverse sizes of the filament and the plasma channel.