Superradiant Amplification of an Ultrashort Laser Pulse in a Plasma by a Counterpropagating Pump

Journal Article · Sun Nov 01 04:00:00 EST 1998 · Physical Review Letters

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.81.4879· OSTI ID:342692

Shvets, G; Fisch, N J ^[1]; Pukhov, A; Meyer-ter-Vehn, J ^[2]

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1. Department of Astrophysical Sciences, Princeton University, Princeton, New Jersey 08540 (United States)
2. Max-Planck-Institut fuer Quantenoptik, D-85748 Garching (Germany)

An initially short ({lt}1/{omega}{sub p} ) laser pulse can be superradiantly amplified by a counterpropagating long low-intensity pump while remaining ultrashort. This superradiant amplification occurs if the frequency of the pulse is lower than that of the pump, and the initial pulse intensity is sufficiently high. Numerical simulations indicate that the short pulse can be amplified to an intensity hundreds of times the pump intensity, with the pump depletion as high as 40{percent} . This implies that the long pump is efficiently time compressed without frequency chirping and pulse stretching, making the superradiant amplification an interesting alternative to chirped-pulse amplification. {copyright} {ital 1998} {ital The American Physical Society}

• DOE Contract Number: FG03-98DP00210
• OSTI ID: 342692
• Journal Information: Physical Review Letters, Journal Name: Physical Review Letters Journal Issue: 22 Vol. 81; ISSN 0031-9007; ISSN PRLTAO
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY
BEAM-PLASMA SYSTEMS
LASER RADIATION
OPTICAL PUMPING
PULSE AMPLIFIERS
PULSE TECHNIQUES