Plasma Wave Generation in a Self-Focused Channel of a Relativistically Intense Laser Pulse

Journal Article · Wed Jul 01 04:00:00 EDT 1998 · Physical Review Letters

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.81.100· OSTI ID:641865

Clayton, C E; Tzeng, K; Gordon, D; Muggli, P; Mori, W B; Joshi, C ^[1]; Malka, V ^[2]; Najmudin, Z; Modena, A; Dangor, A E ^[3]; Neely, D ^[4]

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1. UCLA Department of Electrical Engineering, Los Angeles, California 90095 (United States)
2. LULI Laboratory, CNRS-Ecole Polytechnique, Palaiseau (France)
3. Blackett Laboratory, Imperial College, London SW7 A2Z (United Kingdom)
4. Central Laser Facility, Rutherford Appleton Laboratory, Didcot (United Kingdom)

Evidence for self-channeling of a relativistically intense laser pulse in an underdense plasma is presented through Schlieren and 90{degree} Thomson sidescatter images. Using collective Thomson scattering of a probe beam, we observe that relativistically propagating plasma waves are excited over the entire length of the channel, up to 12 Rayleigh lengths ({approx}4 mm) . From the wave amplitude, the intensity inside the channel is estimated to be {approximately}10{sup 18} W/cm{sup 2} . {copyright} {ital 1998} {ital The American Physical Society}

• Research Organization: University of California
• DOE Contract Number: FG03-92ER40727
• OSTI ID: 641865
• Journal Information: Physical Review Letters, Journal Name: Physical Review Letters Journal Issue: 1 Vol. 81; ISSN 0031-9007; ISSN PRLTAO
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

66 PHYSICS
70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY
AMPLITUDES
BEAMS
EXCITED STATES
LASERS
PLASMA WAVES
RAYLEIGH WAVES
THOMSON SCATTERING
WAVE PROPAGATION