LMI Seminar - Self-focusing and optical collapse

Abstract:

The propagation of intense laser pulses in a bulk medium can be modeled by the nonlinear Schrödinger equation (NLS). In 1965, Kelley showed that this equation admits solutions that self- focus and blowup (become singular) in a finite distance, which physically corresponds to optical collapse. In this talk I will give a short historical overview of the field. I will then present some recent results on the stabilization of laser beams using a necklace configuration, and on a ``loss of phase'' of collapsing beams which leads to chaotic interactions.