DFG-RSF:Controlled femtosecond super-filaments

• Applicant: Professor Dr. Uwe Morgner
• Subject Area: Optics, Quantum Optics and Physics of Atoms, Molecules and Plasmas
• Term: from 2016 to 2022
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 309199899

So-called super-filaments were discovered very recently and are different from common filaments by higher intensity and higher density of free electrons. They appear due to strong interaction of a multifilament bundle and fission of two and more filaments together. Super-filaments attracted attention in context of so called rogue waves. In particular, one order of magnitude higher plasma density promises higher degree of nonlinearity induced by photo-ionization, and thus, higher efficiency of plasma-induced THz generation. In this project we consider, both experimentally and theoretically, dynamics of super-filaments and in particular THz generation in super-filaments. The experimental part will be carried out in the Moscow group on a novel terawatt laser facility. Theoretical part will be divided between Moscow and Hannover group, profiting from the strong computer cluster facility in located in Hannover. Beyond single color superfilaments, we study two-colour filaments as a possible source of high-energy sub-cycle THz pulses. In theoretical part of our work we will support experiment by comprehensive modeling of the dynamics of field and electron density in superfilaments. Furthermore, we extend the theory in several directions, in particular to clarify the possibility of multi-colour (more than two-colour) super-filaments and the possibility to introduce quasi-phase matching via periodic variation of atomic pressure by a strong acoustic wave.

• DFG Programme: Research Grants
• International Connection: Russia
• Partner Organisation: Russian Science Foundation
• Cooperation Partner: Professor Dr. Andrei Borisovich Saveliev-Trofimov