image: A result of a numerical simulation, this image depicts a transverse profile of an ultra-intense femtosecond-laser Airy beam after propagation in a nonlinear gaseous medium (air). The dominant lobe of the beam, in the corner of the beam pattern, propagates along a curved trajectory and leaves a bent plasma channel in its wake. The whisker-looking ghost beam results from a nonlinear beam reshaping on propagation. This image accompanied the report "Curved Plasma Channel Generation Using Ultraintense Airy Beams," by P. Polynkin and colleagues appearing in the April 10, 2009, issue of Science. view more
Credit: Image copyright <i>Science</i>-AAAS