Control of filamentation of femtosecond laser pulses in a turbulent atmosphere

Abstract

Various methods for controlling the onset of filamentation of a high-power laser pulse in extended vertical atmospheric paths are analysed. It is shown that the increase in the structure constant of the atmospheric turbulence on average leads to the earlier formation of 'hot' spots when the initial pulse power exceeds the critical self-focusing power by an order of magnitude and more. It is found in the numerical experiments that the use of broad focused beams is preferable for achieving the minimal standard deviation of a distance for the filament onset.