Experimental study of short high-intensity laser-pulse monomode propagation in centimeter-long capillary tubes

The monomode guided propagation of a short (500-fs) laser pulse is studied for an incident intensity in the range 10(13)-3 X10(18) W/cm(2) inside a gl ass-walled capillary tube (length, approximate to 1 cm; inner radius, 15 mu m). The measured transmission is constant over a large range of incident i ntensities (10(13)-10(16) W/cm(2)) and corresponds, except for a coupling c onstant, to the value predicted by an analytical model for monomode guiding . For incident intensities larger than 10(17) W/cm(2), a drop in transmissi on is observed, which is attributed to plasma creation at the entrance plan e of the capillary tube. (C) 2000 Optical Society of America [S0740-3224(00 )01204-2]. dOCIS codes: 000.4930, 230.7370, 320.7140, 350.5400.