Düsseldorf 2007 – scientific programme

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K: Fachverband Kurzzeitphysik

K 7: Laserstrahlwechselwirkungen

K 7.1: Talk

Tuesday, March 20, 2007, 15:15–15:30, 6E

FDTD simulations of ultrashort laser pulse propagation — •Karsten Köhler, Dennis Kröninger, and Thomas Kurz — Drittes Physikalisches Institut, Univ. Göttingen, Friedrich-Hund-Platz 1, 37077 Göttingen

The propagation and interaction of picosecond to femtosecond laser pulses is usually calculated by employing first-order wave equations based on the slowly varying envelope approximation. While this approximation has been shown to be valid even for very short (few-cycle) pulses (Brabec & Krausz) the proper description of linear and nonlinear dispersion (e.g. Raman term) in such cases becomes more difficult when the pulse spectrum covers resonances of the medium. Then direct finite-difference time-domain simulations of Maxwell's equations provide the most accurate description of pulse dynamics. In this work we describe an implementation of this method for pulse propagation in a Kerr medium with linear and nonlinear dispersion. We present numerical results on propagation and interaction of pulses having different durations and peak intensities, and compare them with the corresponding solutions of nonlinear-Schrödinger-type envelope equations.