Spreading of Intense Laser Beams Due to Filamentation

Wilks, S. C.; Young, P. E.; Hammer, J. H.; Tabak, M.; Kruer, W. L.

doi:10.1103/physrevlett.73.2994

Cited by 68 publications

(41 citation statements)

References 21 publications

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“…At higher irradiation intensities (Ͼ10 14 W/cm 2 ) the radiation pressure can be sufficiently large with respect to the plasma pressure to significantly alter the electron density profile by excluding the plasma from regions of otherwise high density. [31][32][33] In recent soft x-ray laser interferometry studies of seemingly typical laserplasmas, where the ponderomotive force and other effects associated with high irradiation intensities are negligible, we observed 11 plasma density distributions that differ significantly from the expected classical conical expansion. That investigation was conducted using the DGI soft x-ray laser setup described above to map the dynamics of a line-focus plasma created by irradiation of a polished Cu slab target with ϭ1.06 m Nd:YAG laser pulses of ϳ13 ns FWHM duration.…”

Section: B Study Of Two-dimensional Effects In a Spot-focus Laser-crmentioning

confidence: 66%

Application of extremely compact capillary discharge soft x-ray lasers to dense plasma diagnostics

et al. 2003

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Table-top capillary discharge soft x-ray lasers combine the advantages of a small size and a high repetition rate with an extremely high brightness similar to that of their laboratory-size predecessors. When utilized to probe high density plasmas their short wavelength results in a higher critical density, reduced refraction, decreased free-electron absorption, and higher resolution as compared to optical probes. These characteristics allow the design of experiments capable of measuring the evolution of plasmas with density-scale length products that are outside the reach of optical lasers. This paper reviews the use of a 46.9 nm wavelength Ne-like Ar capillary discharge table-top laser in dense plasma diagnostics, and reports soft x-ray laser interferometry results of spot-focus Nd:YAG laser plasmas created at moderate irradiation intensity (ϳ7ϫ10 12 W cm Ϫ2 ) with ϳ13 ns pulse width duration laser pulses. The measurements produced electron density maps with densities up to 0.9ϫ10 21 cm Ϫ3 that show the development of a concave electron density profile that differ significantly from those of a classical expansion. This two-dimensional behavior, that was recently also observed in line-focus plasmas, is analyzed here for the case of spot-focus plasmas with the assistance of hydrodynamic model simulations. The results demonstrate the use of a table-top soft x-ray laser interferometer as a new high resolution tool for the study of high density plasma phenomena and the validation of hydrodynamic codes.

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Section: B Study Of Two-dimensional Effects In a Spot-focus Laser-crmentioning

confidence: 66%

Application of extremely compact capillary discharge soft x-ray lasers to dense plasma diagnostics

et al. 2003

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“…Since the instability has a preferred wavelength, it could be detected by looking at the angular distribution of the transmitted light; the angle of deflection is given by where [5,6] and vo is the electron oscillatory velocity in the laser field, ve is the electron thermal velocity, O p e is the electron plasma frequency, and 00 (ko) is the frequency (wavenumber) of the incident laser.…”

Section: Ps Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Simulations with a modified version of the F3D code [3] that includes nonlinear motion of the ions [4] suggested that the channels were being terminated by the onset of the filamentation instability [5]. Since the instability has a preferred wavelength, it could be detected by looking at the angular distribution of the transmitted light; the angle of deflection is given by where [5,6] and vo is the electron oscillatory velocity in the laser field, ve is the electron thermal velocity, O p e is the electron plasma frequency, and 00 (ko) is the frequency (wavenumber) of the incident laser.…”

Section: Ps Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Laser beam propagation, filamentation and channel formation in laser-produced plasmas

Young¹,

Wilks²,

Kruer³

et al. 1996

AIP Conference Proceedings

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This is a preprint of a paper intended for publication in a journal or procedngs. Since changes may be made before publication, this preprint is made available with the understandmg that it will not be cited or reproduced without the permission of the author. Abstract. The understanding of laser beam propagation through underdense plasmas is of vital importance to laser-plasma interaction experiments, as well as being a fundamental physics issue. Formation of plasma channels has numerous applications including table-top xray lasers and laser-plasma-produced particle accelerators. The fast ignitor concept, for example, requires the formation of an evacuated channel through a large, underdense plasma. Scaled experiments have shown that the axial extent of a channel formed by a 100 ps pulse is limited by the onset of the filamentation instability. We have obtained quantitative comparison between filamentation theory and experiment. More recent experiments have shown that by increasing the duration of the channel-forming pulse, the filamentation instability is overcome and the channel extent is substantially increased. This result has important implications for the fast ignitor design and the understanding of time-dependent beam dynamics.

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“…A nonlinear medium is susceptible to filamentation instability, which is characterized by growing electron density and irradiance fluctuations, transverse to the direction of propagation of the beam. There are two complementary approaches to the study of the filamentation instability in a plasma, as discussed by In the first usual approach (Askaryan,1962;Talanov, 1966;Hora, 1967;Palmer, 1971;Kaw et al, 1973;Max et al, 1974;Drake et al, 1974;Mannheimer and Ott, 1974;Perkins and Valeo, 1974;Yu et al, 1974;Chen, 1974;Sodha et al, 1976a;Sodha et al, 1976b;Bingham and Lashmore, 1976;Sodha and Tripathi, 1977;Gurevich, 1978;Perkins and Goldman, 1981;Kruer et al, 1985;Epperlein, 1990;Berger et al, 1993;Ghanshyam and Tripathi, 1993;Wilks et al, 1994;Kaiser et al, 1994;Vidal and Johnston, 1996;Lal et al, 1997;Guzdar et al, 1998;Bendib et al, 2006;Keskinen and Basu, 2003;Gondarenko et al, 2005), one considers an  refer to the components of the wave number k of the instability parallel and perpendicular to the direction of propagation viz., z axis. The instability grows or not, as the beam propagates, depending on whether k || is imaginary or real.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Filamentation Instability of Electromagnetic Beams in Nonlinear Media: A Tutorial Review

Sodha

Faisal²

2017

Proceedings of the Indian National Science Academy

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This paper is a tutorial presentation of spatial growth of a transverse instability, associated with the propagation of an electromagnetic beam, with uniform or Gaussian irradiance along the wavefront. There are two approaches to the study of filamentation in a plasma. The results of the two approaches have been expressed in a form where they can be compared. It has been noted that the growth of the instability in the first approach is equivalent to the self-focusing of a ripple in the second approach. The dependence of the maximum growth rate and the corresponding optimum value of the wave number of the instability on the irradiance of the main beam has also been studied. Further a paraxial like approach has also been adopted to analyze the characteristics of propagation of aripple, when the dielectric function is determined by the composite (Gaussian and ripple) electric field profile of the beam. The effect of different parameters on the critical curves has been highlighted and the variation of the beam width parameter with the distance of propagation has been obtained for three typical cases viz of steady divergence, oscillatory divergence and self-focusing of the ripple.

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Spreading of Intense Laser Beams Due to Filamentation

Cited by 68 publications

References 21 publications

Application of extremely compact capillary discharge soft x-ray lasers to dense plasma diagnostics

Application of extremely compact capillary discharge soft x-ray lasers to dense plasma diagnostics

Laser beam propagation, filamentation and channel formation in laser-produced plasmas

Filamentation Instability of Electromagnetic Beams in Nonlinear Media: A Tutorial Review

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