Focusing properties of shocking optical pulses

Opt Lett. 2001 Mar 15;26(6):376-8. doi: 10.1364/ol.26.000376.

Abstract

We show that optical-cycle steepening in a nonlinear dielectric before focusing results in an arbitrarily large enhancement of the focused intensity and energy density. The focusing of an optical shock produces singular intensity and energy density at the focal point.