Experimental energy-density flux characterization of ultrashort laser pulse filaments

Visualization of the energy density flux gives a unique insight into the propagation properties of complex ultrashort pulses. This analysis, formerly relegated to numerical investigations, is here shown to be an invaluable experimental diagnostic tool. By retrieving the spatio-temporal amplitude and phase we experimentally obtain the energy density flux within complex ultrashort pulses generated by filamentation in a nonlinear Kerr medium. (C) 2009 Optical Society of America