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Contribution to Book
All-Optical Control of Nonlinear Self-Focusing in Plasmas Using Non-Resonantly Driven Plasma Wave
AIP Conference Proceedings: Advanced Accelerator Concepts: 14th Workshop (2010)
  • Serguei Y. Kalmykov
  • Bradley A. Shadwick
  • Michael C. Downer
Abstract

Excitation of plasma density perturbations by an initially bi-color laser pulse helps to control nonlinear refraction in the plasma and enables various types of laser self-guiding. In this report we consider a setup that not only makes possible the transport of laser energy over cm-long relatively dense plasmas (n_0 = 10^{18} cm^{−3}) but also transforms the pulse into the unique format inaccessible to the conventional amplification techniques (relativistically intense periodic trains of few-cycle spikes). This well focusable pulse train is a novel light source interesting for ultra-fast high-field science applications. The opposite case of suppression of nonlinear self-focusing and dynamical self-guiding of an over-critical multi-frequency pulse is proposed for the proof-of-principle experimental study.

Keywords
  • Relativistic self-focusing,
  • relativistic Langmuir wave,
  • plasma-wave-induced nonlinear refraction,
  • trains of a few-cycle relativistically intense electromagnetic pulses,
  • nonlinear plasma lens
Publication Date
Winter December, 2010
Editor
S. H. Gold and G. S. Nusinovich
Publisher
American Institute of Physics
ISBN
978-0-7354-0853-1
Citation Information
Serguei Y. Kalmykov, Bradley A. Shadwick and Michael C. Downer. "All-Optical Control of Nonlinear Self-Focusing in Plasmas Using Non-Resonantly Driven Plasma Wave" New YorkAIP Conference Proceedings: Advanced Accelerator Concepts: 14th Workshop Vol. 1299 (2010)
Available at: http://works.bepress.com/serguei_kalmykov/27/