NONLINEAR-THEORY OF POWER TRANSFER BETWEEN MULTIPLE CROSSED LASER-BEAMS IN A FLOWING PLASMA

Analytic results are obtained for power transfer among crossing, equal frequency, laser beams, each smoothed by a random phase plate, in a f lowing homogeneous plasma. For beams with well-separated directions, i nterbeam coupling transfers power, while intrabeam coupling causes bea m deflection. For any pair of such beams, the beam with the largest po sitive projection on the flow direction will drain power from the othe r. (C) 1998 American Institute of Physics.