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APS » Journals » Phys. Rev. Lett. » Volume 74 » Issue 15
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Phys. Rev. Lett. 74, 2953–2956 (1995)

Experimental Demonstration of Relativistic Self-Channeling of a Multiterawatt Laser Pulse in an Underdense Plasma

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P. Monot, T. Auguste, P. Gibbon, F. Jakober, and G. Mainfray
Commissariat a L'Énergie Atomique Direction des Sciences de la Matière Département de Recherche sur L'État Condensé, Les Atomes et Les Molécules, Bâtiment 522, C. E. Saclay, 91191 Gif sur Yvette Cedex, France

A. Dulieu, M. Louis-Jacquet, G. Malka, and J. L. Miquel
Commissariat a L'Énergie Atomique, DAM/DLPP/EPL, C. E. Limeil-Valenton, 94195 Villeneuve St. Georges Cedex, France

Received 2 September 1994; published in the issue dated 10 April 1995

We report the first clear experimental demonstration of relativistic self-channeling of a multiterawatt laser pulse interacting with an underdense plasma. We show via Thomson scattering observations that for laser power above the critical power for self-focusing the beam remains trapped and guided over the plasma length. These observations are in fairly good agreement with a numerical model describing the laser propagation and taking into account the plasma response to the ponderomotive force.

© 1995 The American Physical Society

URL:
http://link.aps.org/doi/10.1103/PhysRevLett.74.2953
DOI:
10.1103/PhysRevLett.74.2953
PACS:
52.40.Nk, 42.50.Rh, 52.35.Mw, 52.40.Db
 
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