Self-Guiding of Ultrashort, Relativistically Intense Laser Pulses through Underdense Plasmas in the Blowout Regime

Journal Article · Fri May 01 00:00:00 EDT 2009 · Physical Review Letters

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PHYSREVLETT.102.175003· OSTI ID:21316669

Ralph, J E; Marsh, K A; Pak, A E; Lu, W; Clayton, C E; Fang, F; Mori, W B; Joshi, C ^[1]

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1. Department of Electrical Engineering, UCLA, Los Angeles, California 90095 (United States)

The self-guiding of relativistically intense but ultrashort laser pulses has been experimentally investigated as a function of laser power, plasma density, and plasma length in the blowout regime. The extent of self-guiding, observed by imaging the plasma exit, is shown to be limited by nonlinear pump depletion with observed self-guiding of over tens of Rayleigh lengths. Spectrally resolved images of the plasma exit show evidence consistent with self-guiding in the plasma wake. Minimal losses of the self-guided pulse resulted when the initial spot size was matched to the blowout radius.

• OSTI ID: 21316669
• Journal Information: Physical Review Letters, Vol. 102, Issue 17; Other Information: DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.102.175003; (c) 2009 The American Physical Society; Country of input: International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA); ISSN 0031-9007
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY
71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS
GENERAL PHYSICS
BLOWOUTS
LASERS
NONLINEAR PROBLEMS
PLASMA
PLASMA DENSITY
PULSES