corner
corner
APS » Journals » Phys. Rev. Lett. » Volume 76 » Issue 19
< Previous Article | Next Article >

Phys. Rev. Lett. 76, 3570–3573 (1996)

Laser Wakefield Excitation and Measurement by Femtosecond Longitudinal Interferometry

Download: PDF (143 kB) Buy this article Export: BibTeX or EndNote (RIS)

C. W. Siders, S. P. Le Blanc, D. Fisher, T. Tajima, and M. C. Downer
Department of Physics, The University of Texas at Austin, Austin, Texas 78712

A. Babine, A. Stepanov, and A. Sergeev
The Institute of Applied Physics, Nizhny Novgorod, Russia

Received 7 December 1995; published in the issue dated 6 May 1996

Plasma density oscillations (Langmuir waves) in the wake of an intense ( Ipeak∼3×1017W/cm2) laser pulse (100 fs) are measured with ultrafast time resolution using a longitudinal interferometric technique. Phase shifts consistent with large amplitude ( δne/ne∼1) density waves at the electron plasma frequency were observed in a fully tunnel-ionized He plasma, corresponding to longitudinal electric fields of ∼10GV/m. Strong radial ponderomotive forces enhance the density oscillations.

© 1996 The American Physical Society

URL:
http://link.aps.org/doi/10.1103/PhysRevLett.76.3570
DOI:
10.1103/PhysRevLett.76.3570
PACS:
52.40.Nk, 52.35.Fp, 52.75.Di
 
< Previous Article | Next Article >