Two-stage Raman compression of laser pulses with controllable phase fronts
- Institute of Applied Physics RAS, Nizhny Novgorod (Russian Federation)
- Department of Astrophysical Sciences, Princeton University, Princeton, New Jersey 08544 (United States)
The phase front of an ultrashort laser pulse undergoing Raman amplification and compression in inhomogeneous plasma can be controlled such that it is unaffected by density gradients and thus remains focusable. This is achieved by performing the Raman backscattering in two stages. At the first stage, the standard nonlinear Raman compression of a seed wave takes place and produces a short ultraintense pulse, which yet may be poorly focusable. At the second stage, this amplified pulse is scattered again, now serving as a pump, off a second copy of the initial seed. This stage, which utilizes a denser and shorter plasma, is intended not for compression but rather for passing a significant fraction of the energy to the second seed quickly. Then, the output pulse that is produced is not just short and ultraintense, but also has the smooth phase front of the original seed.
- OSTI ID:
- 22410339
- Journal Information:
- Physics of Plasmas, Vol. 22, Issue 5; Other Information: (c) 2015 AIP Publishing LLC; Country of input: International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA); ISSN 1070-664X
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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