  Propagation of intense, ultrashort laser pulses through condensed media like
crystals of BaF$_2$ and sapphire results in the formation of filaments. We
demonstrate that the onset of filamentation may be controlled by rotating the
plane of polarization of incident light. We directly visualize filamentation in
BaF_2 via six-photon absorption-induced fluorescence and, concomitantly, by
probing the spectral and spatial properties of white light that is generated.
