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Nonlinear dynamics of high-power ultrashort laser pulses: exaflop computations on a laboratory station and subcycle light bullets

 a, b,  a, b, c, d
a International Laser Center of M.V. Lomonosov Moscow State University, Vorobevy gory, Moscow, 119992, Russian Federation
b International Center for Quantum Optics and Quantum Technologies (the Russian Quantum Center), ul. Novaya 100, Skolkovo, Moscow Region, 143025, Russian Federation
c Texas A&M University, College Station, Texas, USA
d National Research Centre ‘Kurchatov Institute’, pl. akad. Kurchatova 1, Moscow, 123182, Russian Federation

Propagation of high-power ultrashort light pulses involves an intricate nonlinear spatiotemporal dynamics where various spectral—temporal transformation effects are strongly coupled to the beam dynamics, which, in its turn, varies from the leading to the trailing edge of the pulse. Analysis of this nonlinear dynamics, accompanied by spatial instabilities, beam breakup into multiple filaments, and unique phenomena leading to the generation of extremely short optical field waveforms, is equivalent in its computational complexity to a simulation of time evolution of a billion-dimensional physical system. Such analysis requires exaflops of computational operations and is usually performed on high-performance supercomputers. Here, we present methods of physical modeling and numerical analysis that allow problems of this class to be solved on a laboratory computer boosted by a cluster of graphic accelerators. Exaflop computations performed with the use of these methods reveal new unique phenomena of spatiotemporal dynamics of high-power ultrashort laser pulses. We demonstrate that unprecedentedly short light bullets can be generated as a part of this dynamics, providing optical field localization both in space and time through a delicate balance of dispersion and nonlinearity with simultaneous suppression of diffraction-induced beam divergence due to the joint effect of Kerr and ionization nonlinearities.

Fulltext pdf (1.3 MB)
Fulltext is also available at DOI: 10.3367/UFNe.2016.02.037700
Keywords: ultrashort laser pulses, ultrafast nonlinear optics, laser-induced filamentation
PACS: 42.65.Re
DOI: 10.3367/UFNe.2016.02.037700
URL: https://ufn.ru/en/articles/2016/9/d/
000391228000004
2-s2.0-85006129611
2016PhyU...59..869V
Citation: Voronin A A, Zheltikov A M "Nonlinear dynamics of high-power ultrashort laser pulses: exaflop computations on a laboratory station and subcycle light bullets" Phys. Usp. 59 869–877 (2016)
BibTexBibNote ® (generic)BibNote ® (RIS)Medline RefWorks
RT Journal
T1 Nonlinear dynamics of high-power ultrashort laser pulses: exaflop computations on a laboratory station and subcycle light bullets
A1 Voronin,A.A.
A1 Zheltikov,A.M.
PB Physics-Uspekhi
PY 2016
FD 10 Sep, 2016
JF Physics-Uspekhi
JO Phys. Usp.
VO 59
IS 9
SP 869-877
DO 10.3367/UFNe.2016.02.037700
LK https://ufn.ru/en/articles/2016/9/d/

Received: 24th, January 2016, 2nd, February 2016

Оригинал: Воронин А А, Желтиков А М «Нелинейная динамика сверхмощных ультракоротких лазерных импульсов: эксафлопные вычисления на лабораторном компьютере и субпериодные световые пули» УФН 186 957–966 (2016); DOI: 10.3367/UFNr.2016.02.037700

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