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Phys. Rev. Lett. 74, 4659 - 4662 (1995)

Propagation of Intense Subpicosecond Laser Pulses through Underdense Plasmas

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C. A. Coverdale, C. B. Darrow, and C. D. Decker
Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, P.O. Box 808, Livermore, California 94550

W. B. Mori, K-C. Tzeng, K. A. Marsh, C. E. Clayton, and C. Joshi
Departments of Physics and Electrical Engineering, University of California, Los Angeles, California 90024

Received 22 December 1994

The propagation of an intense, subpicosecond laser pulse through a substantial length (L/λ∼103) of an underdense plasma (n/nc∼1%) is studied through experiments and computer simulations. For I  =  8×1017 W/cm2 only 55% of the incident laser light was transmitted through the plasma within the focal cone angle. The decrease in transmission was accompanied by Raman forward scattering as evidenced by the generation of anti-Stokes sidebands and up to 2 MeV electrons. Simulations show that the majority of the reduction in transmission could be due to Raman forward and side scattering.


©1995 The American Physical Society

URL: http://link.aps.org/doi/10.1103/PhysRevLett.74.4659
DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.74.4659
PACS: 52.40.Nk, 52.35.Mw, 52.40.Db, 52.65.Rr

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