Filamentation of IR and UV femtosecond pulses upon focusing in air

The filamentation of IR and UV laser pulses has been studied numerically and experimentally for different initial beam focusing geometries, and linear electron density profiles along the plasma channel of filaments have been obtained. The results demonstrate that changes in laser beam focusing have a stronger effect on filament and plasma channel parameters for UV radiation than for IR radiation. Focusing causes individual high fluence regions produced by refocusing to merge to form a continuous extended filament with a continuous plasma channel.