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Abstract
Laser sources nowadays deliver optical pulses reaching
few cycles in duration and
peak powers exceeding several terawatt (TW). When such
pulses propagate in transparent
media, they first self-focus in space, until
they generate a tenuous plasma by photo-ionization. These pulses
evolve as self-guided objects, resulting from successive equilibria between the Kerr focusing process, the defocusing action of
the electron plasma and the chromatic dispersion of the medium. Discovered ten years ago, this self-channeling mechanism reveals
a new physics, having direct applications in the long-distance propagation of TW beams in air, supercontinuum emission as well as pulse
self-compression. This review presents the major progress in this field. Particular emphasis is laid to the derivation of the propagation
equations, for single as well as coupled wave components. Physics is discussed from
numerical simulations and explained by analytical arguments.
Attention is also paid to the multifilamentation instability, which breaks up broad beams into
small-scale cells. Several experimental data validate theoretical descriptions.
Mathematics Subject Classification: Primary: 78A40, 78A60; Secondary: 74J30.
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