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All-Optical Suppression Of Relativistic Self-Focusing Of Laser Beams In Plasmas, Serguei Y. Kalmykov, Sunghwan A. Yi, Gennady Shvets
All-Optical Suppression Of Relativistic Self-Focusing Of Laser Beams In Plasmas, Serguei Y. Kalmykov, Sunghwan A. Yi, Gennady Shvets
Serge Youri Kalmykov
It is demonstrated that a catastrophic relativistic self-focusing (RSF) of a high-power laser pulse can be prevented all-optically by a second, much weaker, copropagating pulse. RSF suppression occurs when the difference frequency of the pulses slightly exceeds the electron plasma frequency. The mutual defocusing is caused by the three-dimensional electron density perturbation driven by the laser beat wave slightly above the plasma resonance. A bi-envelope model describing the early stage of the mutual defocusing is derived and analyzed. Later stages, characterized by the presence of a strong electromagnetic cascade, are investigated numerically. Stable propagation of the laser pulse with weakly …
Studies Of Laser Wakefield Structures And Electron Acceleration In Underdense Plasmas, Anatoly Maksimchuk, Steven A. Reed, Stepan S. Bulanov, Vladimir Chvykov, Galina Kalintchenko, Takeshi Matsuoka, Christopher Mcguffey, Gerard Mourou, Natalia Naumova, John Nees, Pascal Rousseau, Victor Yanovsky, Karl Krushelnick, Nicholas H. Matlis, Serguei Y. Kalmykov, Gennady Shvets, Michael C. Downer, C. R. Vane, J. R. Beene, Daniel W. Stracener, David R. Schultz
Studies Of Laser Wakefield Structures And Electron Acceleration In Underdense Plasmas, Anatoly Maksimchuk, Steven A. Reed, Stepan S. Bulanov, Vladimir Chvykov, Galina Kalintchenko, Takeshi Matsuoka, Christopher Mcguffey, Gerard Mourou, Natalia Naumova, John Nees, Pascal Rousseau, Victor Yanovsky, Karl Krushelnick, Nicholas H. Matlis, Serguei Y. Kalmykov, Gennady Shvets, Michael C. Downer, C. R. Vane, J. R. Beene, Daniel W. Stracener, David R. Schultz
Serge Youri Kalmykov
Experiments on electron acceleration and optical diagnostics of laser wakes were performed on the HERCULES facility in a wide range of laser and plasma parameters. Using frequency domain holography we demonstrated single shot visualization of individual plasma waves, produced by 40 TW, 30 fs laser pulses focused to the intensity of 10^{19} W/cm^2 onto a supersonic He gas jet with plasma densities n_e ~ 10^{19} cm^{−3}. These holographic “snapshots” capture the variation in shape of the plasma wave with distance behind the driver, and resolve wave front curvature seen previously only in simulations. High-energy quasimonoenergetic electron beams were generated using …