Laser beam filamentation in fractal aggregates

TL;DR

This paper studies how continuous laser beams form filaments in soft matter like colloids and fractal gels, highlighting the influence of material properties on filament formation and statistics.

Contribution

It introduces a model incorporating the static structure factor to analyze filamentation driven by electrostriction in fractal and colloidal soft matter.

Findings

Material properties significantly affect filament statistics.

Electrostriction is a key driver of filamentation.

Filament behavior varies with fractal and colloidal structures.

Abstract

We investigate filamentation of a cw laser beam in soft matter such as colloidal suspensions and fractal gels. The process, driven by electrostriction, is strongly affected by material properties, which are taken into account via the static structure factor, and have impact on the statistics of the light filaments.