# Self-compression of soliton-like laser pulses in the process of self-focusing

## TL;DR

This paper investigates the stable self-compression of high-power femtosecond laser pulses in nonlinear media with anomalous dispersion, demonstrating potential for efficient pulse shortening to near single-cycle durations.

## Contribution

It presents a new regime for stable self-compression of high-energy laser pulses during self-focusing, supported by qualitative analysis and computer simulations.

## Key findings

- Stable self-compression regime confirmed by simulations
- Achieved pulse durations of about one optical cycle
- Energy efficiency of more than 50% in pulse compression

## Abstract

We study the possibility of efficient self-compression of femtosecond laser pulses in nonlinear media with anomalous dispersion of group velocity during the self-focusing of wave packets with a power several times greater than the critical self-focusing power. The results of qualitative analysis of the evolution of three-dimensional wave packets with the quasi-soliton field distribution are confirmed by the computer simulation. The simulation proves that the considered regime of compression of high-power laser pulses with initial durations of about ten optical cycles is stable relative to filamentation instability due to the influence of the nonlinear dispersion. We demonstrate the possibility of self-compression of laser pulses at a multi-millijoule energy level and up to one optical cycle with an energy efficiency of more then 50%.