We applied the method of the amplitude envelopes to investigate fsec optical pulses in air and in vacuum and and obtain new linear amplitude equations governing their propagation. The obtained amplitude equations for media with week dispersion as air and the amplitude equations in vacuum are equal with precision-propagation constants. The equations were solved, using the method of Fourier transforms. One unexpected new result is the relative stability of light bullets and light disks and the significant reduction of their diffraction enlargement in respect to conical Fresnel's diffraction. It is important to emphasize here the case of light disks, which turns out to be practically diffractionless over distances of more than hundred kilometers. When we investigate the propagation of optical pulses only with few optical periods in the frame of amplitude equations and in the frame of the wave equation, we obtain equal diffraction behavior for the amplitudes in both cases.

Date Published: 5 March 2007
PDF: 5 pages
Proc. SPIE 6604, 14th International School on Quantum Electronics: Laser Physics and Applications, 66041G (5 March 2007); doi: 10.1117/12.726987

Published in SPIE Proceedings Vol. 6604:
14th International School on Quantum Electronics: Laser Physics and Applications
Peter A. Atanasov; Tanja N. Dreischuh; Sanka V. Gateva; Lubomir M. Kovachev, Editor(s)