Pressure independence of intensity clamping during filamentation: theory and experiment

Because of the dynamic equilibrium between Kerr self-focussing and plasma induced defocusing
and the inexistence of collisional ionization the critical intensity during femtosecond laser
filamentation in air is independent of pressure. An analytical analysis is given which is justified
by a direct experimental verification.
PACS: 42.65.Jx, 52.38.Hb, 52.70.Kz