χ(5) susceptibility stabilizes the propagation of ultrashort laser pulses in air -: art. no. 061802

The influence of higher-order optical nonlinearities on the self-guiding of femtosecond pulses in the atmosphere is investigated theoretically. chi((5)) susceptibility, even small, is shown to significantly affect the propagation dynamics and enhance the robustness of femtosecond filaments by lowering the threshold intensity at which the beam saturates and by enlarging the self-channeling range.