Asymmetric self-phase modulation and compression of short laser pulses in plasma channels

A relativistically intense femtosecond laser pulse propagating in a plasma channel undergoes dramatic photon deceleration while propagating a distance on the order of a dephasing length. The deceleration of photons is localized to the back of the pulse and is accompanied by compression and explosive...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Physical review letters 2003-05, Vol.90 (21), p.215001-215001, Article 215001
Main Authors: Gordon, D F, Hafizi, B, Hubbard, R F, Peñano, J R, Sprangle, P, Ting, A
Format: Article
Language:English
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Summary:A relativistically intense femtosecond laser pulse propagating in a plasma channel undergoes dramatic photon deceleration while propagating a distance on the order of a dephasing length. The deceleration of photons is localized to the back of the pulse and is accompanied by compression and explosive growth of the ponderomotive potential. Fully explicit particle-in-cell simulations are applied to the problem and are compared with ponderomotive guiding center simulations. A numerical Wigner transform is used to examine local frequency shifts within the pulse and to suggest an experimental diagnostic of plasma waves inside a capillary.
ISSN:0031-9007
1079-7114
DOI:10.1103/PhysRevLett.90.215001