# Gas-solid phase transition in laser multiple filamentation

## TL;DR

This paper reveals a phase transition in laser filamentation where filaments form a solid-like crystal structure at high intensities, transitioning from a gas-like dispersed state at lower intensities, modeled through an interaction Hamiltonian.

## Contribution

It introduces the concept of a gas-solid phase transition in laser filamentation and models filament interactions with a Morse-like potential, providing a new understanding of filament organization.

## Key findings

- Filaments form a crystal lattice at intensities above 0.4 TW/cm^2.
- Below this threshold, filaments are in a mixed gas-like state with localized clusters.
- The interaction Hamiltonian suggests a Morse potential shape for filament interactions.

## Abstract

While propagating in transparent media, near-infrared multi-terawatt (TW) laser beams break up in a multitude of filaments of typically 100-200 um diameter with peak intensities as high as 10 to 100~TW/cm$^{2}$. We observe a phase transition at incident beam intensities of 0.4~TW/cm$^2$, where the interaction between filaments induce solid-like 2-dimensional crystals with a 2.7 mm lattice constant, independent of the initial beam diameter. Below 0.4~TW/cm$^2$, we evidence a mixed phase state in which some filaments are closely packed in localized clusters, nucleated on inhomogeneities (seeds) in the transverse intensity profile of the beam, and other are sparse with almost no interaction with their neighbors, similar to a gas. This analogy with a thermodynamic gas-solid phase transition is confirmed by calculating the interaction Hamiltonian between neighboring filaments, which takes into account the effect of diffraction, Kerr self-focusing and plasma generation. The shape of the effective potential is close to a Morse potential with an equilibrium bond length close to the observed value.