Adaptive control of the spatial position of white light filaments in an aqueous solution

We demonstrate control over the spatial coordinates (position and extent) of white light filaments (supercontinuum generation) in an aqueous solution. These are the first experiments to achieve control of filament position through the manipulation of the spectral phase of an ultra-fast (50 fs) 800 nm excitation laser pulse. A closed feedback loop employing a spatial light modulator and a genetic algorithm was used to manipulate the spectral phase of the pulses to achieve a specified filament position and length.