Phys. Rev. Lett. 88, 113901 (2002) [4 pages]Honeycomb Pattern Formation by Laser-Beam Filamentation in Atomic Sodium VaporReceived 26 July 2001; revised 16 November 2001; published 27 February 2002 We have observed transverse pattern formation leading to highly regular structures in both the near and far fields when a near-resonant laser beam propagates without feedback through an atomic sodium vapor. One example is a regular far-field honeycomb pattern, which results from the transformation of the laser beam within the vapor into a stable three-lobed structure with a uniform phase distribution and highly correlated power fluctuations. The predictions of a theoretical model of the filamentation process are in good agreement with these observations. © 2002 The American Physical Society URL:
http://link.aps.org/doi/10.1103/PhysRevLett.88.113901
DOI:
10.1103/PhysRevLett.88.113901
PACS:
42.65.Sf, 42.50.-p, 45.70.Qj, 89.75.Kd
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