Electromagnetic surface waves on ultrashort pulse laser-generated plasma channels

Using analytical and numerical techniques, the properties of electromagneti c surface waves on conducting plasma channels produced by ultrashort pulse lasers have been studied. Using a homogeneous slab approximation to model t he conducting plasma channel, we solve for the surface wave dispersion and wave damping for both the symmetric and antisymmetric wave mode cases for b oth a thick and thin slab. For the dense plasma case, i.e., for wave freque ncies less than the electron collision frequency, it is found that surface wave damping attenuation length can be large, on the order of the laser pla sma channel propagation distance, for atmospheric pressure conditions for b oth the thick and thin slab approximation. In addition, it is shown that la rge amplitude surface waves can modify the plasma channel conductivity thro ugh nonlinear effects. (C) 2001 American Institute of Physics.