LOCATION CHANGE: this colloquium will be held in the lobby of the Physical Sciences Complex
Howard Milchberg, University of Maryland
May 13, 2014
Under certain conditions, powerful ultrashort laser pulses can form greatly extended filaments of concentrated high intensity in gases, leaving behind a very long trail of deposited energy stored in plasma and in excitation of atomic and molecular states. Such filaments can be much longer than the longitudinal scale over which a laser beam typically diverges by diffraction. Central to the phenomenon is the ultrafast nonlinear response of atoms and molecules to extremely high electromagnetic fields. I will describe our measurements of this response and show how we use this understanding in filamentation experiments, including the development of air waveguides for remote transport of extremely high average power laser beams.
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This Colloquia will be held Tuesdays in the PSC Lobby at 4:00 pm (preceded by light refreshments at 3:30). If you have additional questions, please call 301-405-5946.
