Phys. Rev. Lett. 102, 175003 (2009) [4 pages]Self-Guiding of Ultrashort, Relativistically Intense Laser Pulses through Underdense Plasmas in the Blowout RegimeReceived 11 September 2008; published 30 April 2009 The self-guiding of relativistically intense but ultrashort laser pulses has been experimentally investigated as a function of laser power, plasma density, and plasma length in the blowout regime. The extent of self-guiding, observed by imaging the plasma exit, is shown to be limited by nonlinear pump depletion with observed self-guiding of over tens of Rayleigh lengths. Spectrally resolved images of the plasma exit show evidence consistent with self-guiding in the plasma wake. Minimal losses of the self-guided pulse resulted when the initial spot size was matched to the blowout radius. © 2009 The American Physical Society URL:
http://link.aps.org/doi/10.1103/PhysRevLett.102.175003
DOI:
10.1103/PhysRevLett.102.175003
PACS:
52.38.Kd, 41.75.Jv, 52.35.Mw
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