Observation of Postsoliton Expansion Following Laser Propagation through an Underdense Plasma

Abstract

The expansion of electromagnetic post-solitons emerging from the interaction of a 30 ps, 3 × 10 18 W cm −2 laser pulse with an underdense deuterium plasma has been observed up to 100 ps after the pulse propagation, when large numbers of post-solitons were seen to remain in the plasma. The temporal evolution of the post-solitons has been accurately characterized with a high spatial and temporal resolution. The observed expansion is compared to analytical models and three dimensional particle-in-cell results providing indication of the polarisation dependence of the postsoliton dynamics.

Observation of plasma density dependence of electromagnetic soliton excitation by an intense laser pulse

“…This figure shows that the soliton walls are much wider than the one expected by the snowplow model (compare results in Ref. 14). This is consistent with the late time stage of these structures.…”

“…It is worth mentioning that no significant quasi-static magnetic fields should be present around the post-soliton (see, for instance, the simulation results reported in Ref. 14) and can thus be neglected in analyzing the probing protons deflections. A lineout of the probing proton density distribution in correspondence to the post-soliton outlined in Fig.…”

Publisher's Note: Relativistic breather-type solitary waves with linear polarization in cold plasmas [Phys. Rev. E91, 033102 (2015)]

“…Exact twodimensional (2D) linearly polarized solitary wave solutions of the fluid model were also found [13]. Solitary waves were observed in particle-in-cell (PIC) codes [14][15][16], and their footprints were detected in laboratory experiments [17][18][19][20][21].…”

Three dimensional electromagnetic wavepackets in a plasma: Spatiotemporal modulational instability

“…Many particle in cell (PIC) simulations [41][42][43][44][45][46][47] and experimental investigations [48][49][50][51] reveal the appearance of multidimensional EM localized structures and light bullets in laser plasmas. It is believed that 44,45 nearly 25%-40% of the laser pulse energy goes into the generation of these well localized concentrations of electromagnetic energy, which can play an important role in the laser plasma interaction process.…”