Generation of intense few-cycle laser pulses through filamentation - parameter dependence

Intense few-cycle laser pulses as short as 5.1 fs are generated though self-filamentation in a noble gas atmosphere. We study the dependence of the laser pulse fidelity on the driving pulse profile and chirp as well as on the gas parameters, quantify their pointing stability and spatial quality. (c) 2005 Optical Society of America.