Dieses Dokument darf im Rahmen von § 53 UrhG zum eigenen Gebrauch kostenfrei heruntergeladen, gelesen, gespeichert und ausgedruckt, aber nicht im Internet bereitgestellt oder an Außenstehende weitergegeben werden.This document may be downloaded, read, stored and printed for your own use within the limits of § 53 UrhG but it may not be distributed via the internet or passed on to external parties.Brée, CarstenDemircan, AyhanjSkupin, StefanBergé, LucSteinmeyer, Günter2016-03-242019-06-2820080946-8633https://doi.org/10.34657/3151https://oa.tib.eu/renate/handle/123456789/2072Competing nonlinear optical effects that act on femtosecond laser pulses propagating in a self-generated plasma filament may give rise to a pronounced radial deformation of the beam, similar to the z-pinch contraction of pulsed high-current discharges. This self-pinching locally increases the photon density. The process is further identified as the first stage in the recently observed self-compression of femtosecond laser pulses propagating in filaments. Self-pinching also explains the complicated spatio-temporal shapes generally observed in filament compression experimentsapplication/pdfeng510Report