Organizing multiple femtosecond filaments in air.

We show that it is possible to organize regular filamentation patterns in air by imposing either strong field gradients or phase distortions in the input-beam profile of an intense femtosecond laser pulse. A comparison between experiments and 3+1 dimensional numerical simulations confirms this concept and shows for the first time that a control of the transport of high intensities over long distances may be achieved by forcing this well ordered propagation regime. In this case, deterministic effects prevail in multiple femtosecond filamentation, and no transition to the optical turbulence regime is obtained [Phys. Rev. Lett. 83, 2938 (1999)]].

Coherent subterahertz radiation from femtosecond infrared filaments in air.

We report on what is believed to be the first observation of coherent subterahertz (sub-THz) emission from a 1-m string in the atmosphere. The sub-THz pulse emitted by the filamentary structure from an intense IR femtosecond laser pulse is detected perpendicularly to the laser propagation axis by use of two heterodyne detectors at 94+/-1 and 118+/-1GHz . We describe the characteristics of this emission and show evidence of constructive interference between two separate strings.