Terawatt femtosecond Ti:sapphire laser system

A terawatt femtosecond laser system based on a most promising at present broadband laser medium, Ti-doped sapphire, is created. The system produces 80-fs pulses with energy of 80 mJ and a repetition rate of 10 Hz. The first applications of the laser system demonstrated in the paper are the formation of extended channels with the aspect ratio ~10⁴ upon axicon focusing of laser radiation in transparent dielectrics and transformation of the pulse spectrum during propagation of the pulse in gas-filled low-pressure capillaries.