Shock waves in thermal lensing

TL;DR

This paper reviews experimental studies on the formation of spatial shock waves caused by self-defocusing laser beams in disordered thermal nonlinear media, highlighting the complex interplay between nonlinearity and disorder.

Contribution

It provides a comprehensive review of experimental observations of shock wave phenomena in thermal nonlinear media with disorder, an area with limited prior synthesis.

Findings

Identification of conditions leading to shock wave formation

Characterization of shock wave dynamics in disordered media

Insights into the role of thermal nonlinearity and disorder

Abstract

We review experimental investigation on spatial shock waves formed by the self-defocusing action of a laser beam propagation in a disordered thermal nonlinear media.