Subterawatt femtosecond pulses in the mid-infrared range: new spatiotemporal dynamics of high-power electromagnetic fields

Subterawatt ultrashort pulses in the mid-infrared (mid-IR) range delivered by a multistage optical parametric chirped pulse amplifier are used to study laser-induced filamentation and optical-harmonic generation in the field of a mid-IR driver. Conditions and physical scenarios enabling filamentation-assisted compression of subterawatt mid-IR pulses to few-cycle pulse widths are identified.