  We numerically demonstrate the formation of carrier field shocks in various
dispersive media for a wide variety of input conditions using two different
electric field propagation models. In addition, an investigation of the impact
of numerous physical effects on carrier wave shock is performed. It is shown
that in many cases a field shock is essentially unavoidable and therefore
extremely important in the propagation of intense long wavelength pulses in
weakly dispersive nonlinear media such as noble gases, air, and single-crystal
diamond. The results presented here are expected to have a significant impact
in the field of ultrashort nonlinear optics, attosecond pulse generation, and
wavepacket synthesis where the use of mid-IR wavelengths is becoming
increasingly more important.
