  Three dimensional (3D) relativistic electromagnetic sub-cycle solitons were
observed in 3D Particle-in-Cell simulations of an intense short laser pulse
propagation in an underdense plasma. Their structure resembles that of an
oscillating electric dipole with a poloidal electric field and a toroidal
magnetic field that oscillate in-phase with the electron density with frequency
below the Langmuir frequency. On the ion time scale the soliton undergoes a
Coulomb explosion of its core, resulting in ion acceleration, and then evolves
into a slowly expanding quasi-neutral cavity.
