arXiv · 1208.4425
Beyond leading order logarithmic scaling in the catastrophic self-focusing (collapse) of a laser beam in Kerr media
Abstract
We study the catastrophic stationary self-focusing (collapse) of laser beam in nonlinear Kerr media. The width of a self-similar solutions near collapse distance $z=z_c$ obeys $(z_c-z)^{1/2}$ scaling law with the well-known leading order modification of loglog type $\propto (\ln|\ln(z_c-z)|)^{-1/2}$. We show that the validity of the loglog modification requires double-exponentially large amplitudes of the solution $\sim {10^{10}}^{100}$, which is unrealistic to achieve in either physical experiments or numerical simulations. We derive a new equation for the adiabatically slow parameter which determines the system self-focusing across a large range of solution amplitudes. Based on this equation we develop a perturbation theory for scaling modifications beyond the leading loglog. We show that for the initial pulse with the optical power moderately above ($\lesssim 1.2$) the critical power of self-focusing, the new scaling agrees with numerical simulations beginning with amplitudes around only three times above of the initial pulse.
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Pavel M. Lushnikov, Sergey A. Dyachenko, Natalia Vladimirova. 2013-02-19. Beyond leading order logarithmic scaling in the catastrophic self-focusing (collapse) of a laser beam in Kerr media. https://doi.org/10.1103/physreva.88.013845
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