Experimental investigation of the interaction of subterawatt femtosecond laser radiation with transparent dielectrics using axicon focusing

A subterawatt fs laser complex with a power in a pulse P less than or equal to 0.15 TW is constructed. Our experiments show that axicon focusing of such laser light in transparent dielectric leads to formation of a long hollow channel with micron-order transverse dimensions. It is found that effective (approximately 10-3) generation of harmonics of incident light takes place in plasma appearing under axicon focusing. The discussion of the results obtained is presented.© (1999) COPYRIGHT SPIE--The International Society for Optical Engineering. Downloading of the abstract is permitted for personal use only.