Formation of electromagnetic postsolitons in plasmas - art. no. 185004

With particle-in-cell simulations we show that electromagnetic relativistic ally strong solitons, formed in the wake of the laser pulse, during the int eraction of a high-intensity ultrashort laser pulse with a collisionless pl asma, evolve asymptotically into postsolitons. A postsoliton is a slowly ex panding cavity in the ion and electron densities which traps electromagneti c energy. Fast ions are accelerated during the postsoliton formation. Posts olitons are elementary components of the relativistic electromagnetic turbu lence in laser-irradiated plasmas.