Experimental studies of the high and low frequency electromagnetic radiation produced from nonlinear laser-plasma interactions

• Published in: The European physical journal. D, Atomic, molecular, and optical physics Atomic, molecular, and optical physics, 2009-11, Vol.55 (2), p.465-474
• Main Authors: Kando, M., Pirozhkov, A. S., Fukuda, Y., Esirkepov, T. Zh, Daito, I., Kawase, K., Ma, J. L., Chen, L. M., Hayashi, Y., Mori, M., Ogura, K., Kotaki, H., Sagisaka, A., Ragozin, E. N., Faenov, A., Pikuz, T., Kiriyama, H., Okada, H., Kameshima, T., Koga, J. K., Belyaev, K., Kamenets, F. F., Sugiyama, A., Kawachi, T., Daido, H., Kimura, T., Kato, Y., Tajima, T., Bulanov, S. V.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Applications of Nonlinear Dynamics and Chaos Theory; Atomic; Molecular; Optical and Plasma Physics; Physical Chemistry; Physics; Physics and Astronomy; Quantum Information Technology; Quantum Physics; Spectroscopy/Spectrometry; Spintronics; Topical issue: Fundamental Physics and Ultra-High Laser Fields
• ISSN: 1434-6060; 1434-6079
• DOI: 10.1140/epjd/e2009-00246-x

We present the results of experiments on the generation of both high and low frequency electromagnetic radiation from the nonlinear interaction of intense laser beams with underdense plasmas. High frequency radiation is generated as a result of the reflection of a near-infrared laser beam by breaking plasma waves. In the proof-of-principle experiment, a 2 TW, 76 fs Ti:sapphire laser pulse was focused to generate wake waves, and a ~0.1 TW laser pulse was focused to collide with the electron density modulations. Frequencies of the reflected light were 56–110 times higher than that of the initial laser. The estimated number of photons per solid angle was 3×10 7 photons/sr. Low frequency radiation is emitted by the plasma as well. We found that the polarization of the radiation was similar to that of the driver laser. These properties are in accordance with the generation mechanism by relativistic solitons.