Effect of light polarization on plasma distribution and filament formation

TL;DR

This study investigates how the polarization of ultrafast laser pulses influences filament formation in air, revealing that circular polarization prevents filamentation, unlike linear polarization, which is unaffected by the propagation medium.

Contribution

It demonstrates the critical role of light polarization in filament formation, showing that circular polarization inhibits filamentation in vacuum and air, a novel insight into laser filament dynamics.

Findings

Filamentation is absent for circular polarization in vacuum.

Linear polarization results in similar filamentation in vacuum and air.

Polarization significantly influences filament formation thresholds.

Abstract

We show that, for 200 fs light pulses at 790 nm, the formation of filaments is strongly affected by the laser light polarization . Filamentation does not exist for a pure circularly polarized light, propagating in vacuum before focusing in air, while there is no difference for focusing the light in air or vacuum for linearly polarized light.