Optical rogue wave statistics in laser filamentation.

We experimentally observed optical rogue wave statistics during high power femtosecond pulse filamentation in air. We characterized wavelength-dependent intensity fluctuations across 300 nm broadband filament spectra generated by pulses with several times the critical power for filamentation. We show how the statistics vary from a near-Gaussian distribution in the vicinity of the pump to a long tailed "L-shaped" distribution at the short wavelength and long wavelength edges. The results are interpreted in terms of pump noise transfer via self-phase modulation.