Self-Action of Nonparaxial Few-Cycle Optical Waves in Dielectric Media

Abstract

A mathematical model of evolution of the space–time spectra of nonparaxial few-cycle optical waves in isotropic dielectric media with an arbitrary dispersion of the refractive index and the inertialess third-order nonlinearity has been discussed. It has been shown that, at the self-focusing of a wave single-cycle at the input to a nonlinear medium into an optical filament with transverse dimensions comparable with the central radiation wavelength, the strength of the increased longitudinal component of its electric field can become larger than the initial longitudinal component by a factor of 7 and can be 18% of the transverse component of the input wave field. Errors of the calculations of the self-action of radiation with superwide time and spatial spectra within simplified mathematical models have been estimated.