ELECTROMAGNETIC BUBBLE GENERATION BY HALF-CYCLE PULSES

Electromagnetic (EM) bubbles (EMB's), unipolar, super-short, and inten se nonoscillating solitary pulses of EM radiation, can be generated in a gas of nonlinear atoms by available half-cycle pulses (HCP's). We i nvestigate how EMB's characteristics (amplitude, length, formation dis tance, and total number) are controlled by the amplitude and length of originating HCP's. We also predict shocklike wave fronts in the multi bubble regime. (C) 1997 Optical Society of America.