Optical wave packets are often used as means of energy delivery on a remote target with applications ranging from direct laser writing, to non-linear wave mixing and harmonics generation, high power THz generation, and filamentation. The scalability both in power and focal dimensions is an important problem for all of these applications. For example, higher powers ignite nonlinear propagation effects that dynamically reshape the wave packet. Likewise, diffraction dominates when the focal voxel dimensions become comparable to the wavelength.
On the other hand, the use of shaped optical wave packets can, in principle, enable us to control the intensity distribution and the focus position in the linear and the non-linear propagation regimes. An ideal template for this tailored control is the recently introduced family of accelerating optical wave packets, whose distribution is described by the Airy function. These wave packets propagate in curved trajectories, exhibit abrupt autofocus and are able to self-heal and bypass obstacles. Furthermore, at high intensities they reshape into nonlinear intense light-bullets with extremely well defined focal position.
This talk will focus on the open challenges and the latest advancements in the field, which among others include the revealing of the "Janus" nature of this family, and the surprising "phase memory" during harmonic generation. Additionally, we will discuss on how these advancements have enabled the use of shaped optical wave packets in a plethora of applications in the linear and non-linear propagation regimes.
For forthcoming colloquia, please see: http://www.materials.uoc.gr/en/colloquia