Excitation and damping of a self-modulated laser wakefield

Journal Article · Sat Jan 01 04:00:00 EST 2000 · Physics of Plasmas

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1063/1.873809· OSTI ID:20217795

Chen, S -Y ^[1]; Krishnan, M ^[1]; Maksimchuk, A ^[1]; Umstadter, D ^[1]

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1. Center for Ultrafast Optical Science, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan 48109 (United States)

Spatially, temporally, and angularly resolved collinear collective Thomson scattering was used to diagnose the excitation and damping of a relativistic-phase-velocity self-modulated laser wakefield. The excitation of the electron plasma wave was observed to be driven by Raman-type instabilities. The damping is believed to originate from both electron beam loading and modulational instability. The collective Thomson scattering of a probe pulse from the ion acoustic waves, resulting from modulational instability, allows us to measure the temporal evolution of the plasma temperature. The latter was found to be consistent with the damping of the electron plasma wave. (c) 2000 American Institute of Physics.

• OSTI ID: 20217795
• Journal Information: Physics of Plasmas, Journal Name: Physics of Plasmas Journal Issue: 1 Vol. 7; ISSN PHPAEN; ISSN 1070-664X
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY
DAMPING
ELECTRON PLASMA WAVES
EXCITATION
ION ACOUSTIC WAVES
ION TEMPERATURE
LASER-PRODUCED PLASMA
PLASMA DIAGNOSTICS
PLASMA INSTABILITY
RAMAN EFFECT
THEORETICAL DATA
THOMSON SCATTERING
WAKEFIELD ACCELERATORS
WAVE PROPAGATION