Energy deposition dynamics of femtosecond pulses in water

We exploit inverse Raman scattering and solvated electron absorption to perform a quantitative characterization of the energy loss and ionization dynamics in water with tightly focused near-infrared femtosecond pulses. A comparison between experimental data and numerical simulations suggests that the ionization energy of water is 8 eV, rather than the commonly used value of 6.5 eV. We also introduce an equation for the Raman gain valid for ultra-short pulses that validates our experimental procedure.

Maxwells equations approach to soliton excitations of surface plasmonic resonances

We demonstrate that soliton-plasmon bound states appear naturally as propagating eigenmodes of nonlinear Maxwells equations for a metal/dielectric/Kerr interface. By means of a variational method, we give an explicit and simplified expression for the full-vector nonlinear operator of the system. Soliplasmon states (propagating surface soliton-plasmon modes) can be then analytically calculated as eigenmodes of this non-selfadjoint operator. The theoretical treatment of the system predicts the key features of the stationary solutions and gives physical insight to understand the inherent stability and dynamics observed by means of finite element numerical modeling of the time independent nonlinear Maxwell equations. Our results contribute with a new theory for the development of power-tunable photonic nanocircuits based on nonlinear plasmonic waveguides.