Influence of optical angular momentum on filamentation

of 800 nm femtosecond laser pulses in fused silica

Vasilyev E.V., Shlenov S.A.1
1
Faculty of Physics and International Laser Center of Lomonosov Moscow State University,
1 Leninskie gory, Moscow, Russia, 119234

ABSTRACT
Filamentation of femtosecond laser pulse in optical vortex on wavelength 800 nm in fused silica is numerically
studied. Spatio-temporal intensity distributions, fluence distributions and frequency-angular spectra for optical
vortex and circular beam are obtained. It is shown that filamentation in optical vortex may tend to formation
of stable cylindrical structure, which length is greater than in linear case. Parameters of this structure are
presented. Comparative analysis with circular beam is done, estimations of energy transformation into stokes
and antistokes spectral domains are calculated.
Keywords: filamentation, optical vortex, optical angular momentum, phase singularity, fused silica

1. INTRODUCTION
Nonlinear singular optics is a widely studied field of science. Phase singularities have an influence on nonlinear
propagation of laser beams. It is shown in 1 that nonlinear effects in such beams demonstrate the field absence
on optical axis, carrying topological charge and presence of helicoidal phase front. Collinear frequency conversion
in nonlinear quadratic medium generates singular beams with preservation of full optical angular momentum.
Continuous radiation in medium with cubic nonlinearity may tend to formation of dark solitons with phase
dislocation.
Propagation of powerful laser radiation may tend to formation of narrow structure with high intensity
filament, which preserves through many diffraction lengths 2,3 . Filamentation of femtosecond laser pulses is
considered mostly for beams without any phase singularities. Formation of the filament is connected with
dynamical balance of Kerrs self-focusing and defocusing on photoelectron plasma, appeared due to ionization by
laser field with high intensity. Generation of this stable structure takes place when radiation power P is greater
than critical value Pcr , which depends on wavelength, beam shape and characteristics of medium. On wavelength
800 nm the critical power of self-focusing of gaussian beam in air is about 2-6 GW 4 , in fused silica 2.7 MW 5 .
Presense of phase dislocation increases critical power and value of topological charge m is proportional to Pcr 6 .
Phenomenon of filamentation has several potential applications. Self-trapping of radiation in gases could be
used for sensing surrounding media 7 , FIBS 8 , formation of dynamical microwave waveguides 9 . In condensed
media high intensity allows to make micromodifications without thermal degradation of material 10 . Vortices are
used in optical tweezers and manipulations 11 , high garmonic generation and electron acceleration 12 , quantum
computing and cryptography 13 , etc.
Generation of optical vortices is considered in 14 . The mechanism of transformation of vectoral singularities
into vortices is discussed. It was demonstrated that rotating of polarizer may lead to moving of singularities to
definite trajectories, merging dislocations with each other and splitting into elementary cells. It is shown in 15 ,
that optical system with two uniaxial crystals and polarizer transforms circularly polarized radiation into optical
vortex.
The first observation of filamentation in optical vortices is made in 16 . Circular beam with phase dislocation
propagated in vapours of Na and after self-focusing formed a high intensity ring, which then collapsed due to
Send correspondence to Vasilyev E.V.
Vasilyev E.V.: E-mail: vasilev.evgeniy@physics.msu.ru

Optical Trapping and Optical Micromanipulation XIII, edited by Kishan Dholakia, Gabriel C. Spalding, Proc. of SPIE
Vol. 9922, 99222E 2016 SPIE CCC code: 0277-786X/16/$18 doi: 10.1117/12.2237288

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 azimuthal modulation instability. This collapse may take place at long distances. In similar experiment 17 the
distance of breaking up was about several hundreds meters. Numerical simulations for single-charged optical
vortex with small initial amplitude-phase distortions indicated that collapsing distance is greater than distance
of nonlinear focusing 18 .
This work is devoted to numerical investigation of femtosecond filamentation in circular beam with phase
singularity in fused silica on wavelength 800 nm. Computer simulations are realized using slowly varying wave
approximation, which considered self-steepening of pulse fronts during propagation 19 . Comparative analysis of
spatio-temporal dynamics and frequency angular spectra with conventional circular beam is made.

2. NUMERICAL MODEL
Mathematical modeling was implemented by solving self-consistent system of nonlinear differential equations,
describing propagation of femtosecond laser pulse in condensed media on central wavelength 800 nm. When
distortion is small, collapse distance is greater than distance of nonlinear focusing, and axially-symmetric ap-
proximation could be used 19 . Helicoidal phase front is not axially-symmetric, and it is considered by substitution
of renewed laser field: E Aeim , where m topological charge, = arctan(x/y) helicoidal factor. As a
result, in transverse laplacian the term m2 /r2 appears.
System of equations for slowly varying laser field amplitude A(r, t, z) and electron concentration N (r, t, z),
where r transverse spatial coordinate, t time moving with group velocity vg = (k/)1 |=0 , z distance
along propagation direction, looks like:

m2   2k 2 
    
A 1 1
2 A + D A + 0 T nk A

2ik0 = T r
z r r r r n0
(1)
2k02 1   2
 
T npl A ik0 T Ne A ik0 ( + )A,
n0
Ne
= RE (I)(N0 Ne ) + i (I)Ne Ne . (2)
t
There are k0 = 0 n0 /c = 2n0 /0 wave vector in medium, n0 = 1.4533 linear refractive index for
fused silica 20 , c light velocity in vacuum, 0 = 800 central wavelength of pulse. In equation (1) term

T = 1 i0 t denotes operator of wave nonstationarity 19 , which allows to describe self-steepening of wave front
 
more accurately. Dispersion operator D A includes T = (1+/0 ) spectral representation of nonstationarity
operator, = 0 frequency shift. Material dispersion is defined by Sellmeyers formula 21 . Parameter nk
denotes a change of refractive index due to self-focusing and depends on intensity I = cn0 |A|2 /8, n2 = 31016
cm2 /W coefficient of cubic nonlinearity for fused silica 22 . Numerical simulations are perfomed in approximation
of instant response (g = 0). Value of npl defines decrease of refractive index in plasma channel of pulse, pl
plasma frequency, Ne electron concentration. Coefficient describes Bremsstrahlung effect, e and me electron
charge and mass respectively, ei = 1014 s1 frequency of electron-ion collisions in fused silica 23 . Coefficient
of nonlinear absorption during photoionization , multiphoton coefficient K, Ui = 9 eV bandgap for fused
silica 24 . Ionization rate RE (I) depends on intensity and calculates using Keldysh model for condensed media
25
. Neutral concentration N0 = 2.1 1022 cm3 26 . Parameter denotes extinction of radiation and is equal
to 105 cm1 27 . In kinetic equation for electron concentration (2) parameter i (I) characterizes avalanche,
= 1012 s1 electron recombination.
The initial coniditon is circular beam with phase singularity (optical vortex):
 2
r 2
/2r02 t2 /2t20 im
er

A(r, t, z) z=0
= A0 e e . (3)
r0

Values of constants are chosen as the next: r0 = 50 , t0 = 30 fs, m = 2. Power is equal to P = 50PG =
(2) (2)
6.25PV , where PG = 3.7720 /8n0 n2 28 and PV 6 critical powers of self-focusing for gaussian beam and

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 singular circular beam with topological charge m = 2. In fused silica they are about 2.7 MW and 21.6 MW
respectively. Critical power for conventional circular beam is similar to critical power of gaussian beam PG .
Propagation equation (1) is solved using method of physical factors splitting 29 . To decrease calculation time
parallelization with OpenMP was applied.

3. FILAMENTATION OF OPTICAL VORTEX

Spatio-temporal distributions and frequency angular spectra for propagation of optical vortex are presented on
2
Fig.1. Maximum of ring intensity is equal to 4.59 1011 W/cm and is situated at about 70 microns from optical
axis (Fig.1a). Frequency-angular spectrum has bimodal structure with center at 800 nm. Zero spatial harmonic
is absent due to axial phase singularity.
At the beginning of propagation self-focusing in the ring is observed, frequency-spectrum broadens in all
directions. Further propagation due to diffraction is connected with energy overflow from periphery towards
optical axis. Radius of cylindrical structure becomes more and more narrow. Time slices tested the Kerr
effect start to move with group velocity, which is smaller than other slices have, and intensity maximum moves
backward as quick as self-focusing goes. Simultaneously spectrum broadens mostly in stokes domain. When
intensity maximum exceeds 7-8 times of initial intensity, reaching of photoelectrons generating threshold is
observed. Plasma defocusing starts to suppress Kerrs nonlinearity and pulse trail bifurcates (Fig.1b). Strips in
angular spectrum appear due to interference from point sources of filament 30 .
2
Spatio-temporal intensity maximum increases and comes near 1013 W/cm . From this moment defocusing
of pulse trailing part by plasma nonlinearity tends to moving of peak intensity position towards the pulse front.
Strips in angular coordinate broaden and become less clear (Fig.1c).

Imax = 4.59 1011 W/cm2 Imax = 9.76 1012 W/cm2

1/4 1g(t) !/1 1g(t)

0.15
100 004 _0

0.5 0.1
-1
so 002
005
0.4
E u -3 E u
0.3 6
m m -0L5
0.2
-o02 -5
0.1
-o04 -7 2

LO 30 00 650 725 800 875 950 30 20 m 0-30 -20 -30 400 800 1200 1600 2000

t, fs 1, nm t fs 1, nm

a c

Imax = 3.45 1012 W/cm2 Imax = 2.40 1013 W/cm2

1g(t) !/1 1g(t)

0.15 0.15
20
0.1 0.1
-1
005 005
20
E u -3 E u
15
-095 -095
-5
i
-7 5

40 20 0 -w 400 800 1200 1600 2000 30 20 10 0 -10 -20 -30 400 800 1200 1600 2000
-zo 1, nm 1, nm
t, fs t fg

b d

Figure 1. Spatio-temporal distributions of intensity (left) and frequency angular spectra (right)
in filamentation of circular beam with phase singularity
at distances z = 0 cm (a), z = 1.05 cm (b), z = 1.08 cm (c), z = 1.15 cm (d).

Due to phase dislocation field on optical axis is equal to zero and energy overflowing towards the beam cen-
ter weakens. The ring with radius of 3-4 microns and width of 2-3 microns formes. Moving of peak inten-
sity position towards the pulse front continues without any significant changes. Maximum stables at values

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 2
(2.0 2.4) 1013 W/cm , plasma electrons concentration is about 1020 cm3 . Such spatial structure preserves
during several hundreds of microns. Frequency-angular spectrum becomes more complicated. It broadens in
angular direction up to 0.01 rad, in lambda coordinate up to 1400 nm in stokes domain and up to 400 nm in
antistokes domain. Conical emission in antistokes domain is observed (Fig.1d).

40
F, J/cmZ

20

Z.. 0.08
o

0.06

-20 0.04

0.02
-40

1.02 1.04 1.06 1.08 1.10 1.12 1.14

z, cm
Figure 2. Dependence of fluence distribution and maximum of plasma electrons concentration
on propagation distance.

Presence of phase dislocation also is visible on fluence distribution (Fig.2). At distances 1.03 1.06 cm global
maximum of fluence is situated. It is connected with process of energy overflowing towards the optical axis.
Time integral of wide not yet self-focused pulse is greater, than integral of short pulse in filamentation regime.
When self-focusing becomes significant, plasma concentration rapidly increases up to 2.5 1020 cm3 (z ' 1.09
cm). This moment is the start for approximately waveguide regime fluence distribution changes imperceptibly,
electron concentration oscillates between (1.0 1.5) 1020 cm3 .

4. PHASE DISLOCATION INFLUENCE ON FILAMENTATION

IN CIRCULAR BEAMS
Comparative analysis of filamentation in circular beams with and without phase singularity allows to find out
the most important features of optical angular momentum influence to nonlinear propagation of laser pulses.
Intensity distributions and frequency-angular spectra are shown on Fig.3. Numerical modeling was made under
equal beams power, which was equal to 50 PG . Start of filamentation regime was considered at distance, where
peak intensity increasing breaks up first time. This criteria was chosen because of the definition of filament as
structure forming after setting the dynamical balance of self-focusing and plasma defocusing.
Propagation of circular beams start with self-focusing in a ring, where peak intensity increases imperceptibly.
Then due to diffraction pulse energy tends to move towards the optical axis. Spatio-temporal dynamics of circular
beams at these distances is similar, but energy overflowing for optical vortex is slightly slower, because phase
dislocation repulses field towards the beam periphery (Fig.3a).
Gathering energy towards axis ends up with focusing in a ring in the case of optical vortex due to phase
singularity and in a unimodal structure in the case of conventional circular beam (Fig.3b). Peak intensity
position is shifted backwards because during self-focusing group velocity of focused slices becomes smaller than
other slices have.
After peak intensity comes near 1013 W/cm2 , further spatio-temporal evolution becomes to be connected with
moving of its position towards the pulse front due to trail defocusing by plasma nonlinearity (Fig.3c). Structures
corresponding for circular beams focus a bit more. Interference rings form in front time slices.

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 Frequency-angular spectra of circular beams are shown on Fig.3d. To make further analysis more convenient
we provisionally allocated three spectral domains: antistokes ( < 760 nm), central ( [760, 840] nm), stokes
( > 840 nm).

Imax = 9.07 1011 W/cm2 Imax = 9.76 1012 W/cm2 Imax = 2.47 1013 W/cm2

o o 1g( ,,'=)
0.15

25 0.i

nos
20
St
0

I 10
m -0.05

5 -0.15

30 20 -20 -30 30 20 -20 -30 400 800 1200 IRO 2000

10 10
t,fs-10 t,fs-10 A, nm

z = 0.83 cm z = 1.08 cm z = 1.13 cm

Imax = 1.22 1012 W/cm2 Imax = 1.43 1013 W/cm2 Imax = 3.73 1013 W/cm2

m -005

,fl
a
-0.15

r,.os

0.15
16 40

0
400
12 30

800
II 8 20

A, nm
1200
4 10

1600
30 20 0 20 u 30 20 -20 -30
10 10

2000
t, fs t,fs-10

1g( ,,'=)
z = 0.83 cm z = 1.01 cm z = 1.04 cm

a b c d

Figure 3. Comparative spatio-temporal intensity distribution and frequency angular spectra

in filamentation of optical vortex (I) and circular beam without phase dislocation (II).

It is observed that optical vortex havent zero spatial harmonic due to phase singularity. It means that optical
field on the axis is absent. The angle broadening is slightly greater for conventional circular beam (up to 0.15
rad). Its stokes spectrum part is significantly more uniform than optical vortex have. Antistokes broadening is
greater for vortex and presents a clear conical emission formation with curved trail at second harmonic.

i ii iii

40

30

W
20
W
10

0
0.0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1.0

Z, CM

Figure 4. Energy transformation from central spectral domain (ii)

into stokes (iii) and antistokes domains (i) in optical vortex (solid curve)
and circular beam without phase dislocation (dot-dashed curve).

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 Numerical estimation of energy transformation into stokes and antistokes domains is shown on Fig.4. In the
beginning of propagation width of each beam spectrum is the same: all 100% of energy is situated in central
domain. During spatio-temporal evolution of circular beams at distances after z = 1 cm about 30% and 25% of
energy respectively transforms into stokes part and less than 5% into antistokes part.

5. CONCLUSION
Numerical calculations showed that during filamentation of femtosecond laser pulse in beam with optical angular
momentum (optical vortex) on 800 nm in fused silica cylindrical structure may form. Radius of the ring is about
2
3-4 microns, width is 2-3 microns. Peak intensity clamps on values (2.0 2.4) 1013 W/cm , plasma electrons
20 3
concentration is about 10 cm . Cylindrical structure doesnt appear in the case of conventional circular beam
without any phase dislocations. In filamentation regime about 30% of vortex energy transforms into stokes
spectral domain and less than 5% into antistokes domain.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
This work has been supported by the Council of RF President (grant NSh-9695.2016.2) and Russian Foundation
for Basic Research (grant 14-22-02025)

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