Comparative study of femtosecond filamentation properties in the classical model and the full model for different incident pulse durations

Abstract

Abstract We investigate the influence of incident pulse duration on the properties of femtosecond filamentation by numerical simulations. The filament intensity and plasma density are compared in the classical model and the full model under different incident pulse durations. Our results demonstrate the important role that higher-order Kerr effect (HOKE) plays in femtosecond laser filamentation, and the incident pulse duration has a significant influence on the relative contribution of HOKE, which consistently confirm the conclusions proposed by Loriot et al (2011 Laser Phys. 21 1319). Our findings provide a possible way to test the validity of the classical model and the full model in filamentation process by measuring the plasma density as a function of pulse duration through relevant experimental techniques.