COLLIMATION OF AN INTENSE LASER-BEAM BY A WEAKLY RELATIVISTIC PLASMA

Authors
MONOT P AUGUSTE T GIBBON P JAKOBER F MAINFRAY G
Citation
P. Monot et al., COLLIMATION OF AN INTENSE LASER-BEAM BY A WEAKLY RELATIVISTIC PLASMA, Physical review. E, Statistical physics, plasmas, fluids, and related interdisciplinary topics, 52(6), 1995, pp. 5780-5783
Citations number
26
Categorie Soggetti
Physycs, Mathematical","Phsycs, Fluid & Plasmas
Journal title
Physical review. E, Statistical physics, plasmas, fluids, and related interdisciplinary topics → ACNP
ISSN journal
1063651X
Volume
52
Issue
6
Year of publication
1995
Part
A
Pages
5780 - 5783
Database
ISI
SICI code
1063-651X(1995)52:6<5780:COAILB>2.0.ZU;2-4
Abstract
We present an experimental investigation of the propagation of a 1-ps- terawatt laser pulse in a hydrogen gas jet. A study of the output beam profile shows that beam divergence is significantly reduced when lase r power is close to-but lower than-the critical power for relativistic self-focusing. It is shown that this effect depends dramatically on t he gas used.