Self-Focusing of a Flying Focus Pulse

The chromatic focusing of a chirped laser pulse creates a flying focus---a moving focal point that can travel at any velocity. The intensity peak formed by the focal point propagates with a self-similar profile over a distance determined by the focal positions of the minimum and maximum frequencies composing the pulse. In a nonlinear medium, weakened diffraction resulting from self-focusing modifies the propagation throughout this focal region. Here we will present theory and simulations exploring the nonlinear self-focusing of flying focus pulses and its dependence on the focal velocity.