Growth and stabilization of a laser ripple on laser beam in a collisionless unmagnetized plasma

Summary In this paper we have studied the growth and stabilization of a radially symmetric ripple superimposed on a laser beam in a collisionless unmagnetized plasma. The saturation of the growth rate is due to pump depletion effect. On acoount of the nonuniform intensity distribution of the main beam, a d.c. component of the ponderomotive force becomes finite and it redistributes the carriers in the plasma in a plane transverse to the beam propagation. We have set up and solved the wave equations for main beam and ripple by using the WKB and paraxial ray approximations. As the ripple grows in the plasma, it draws energy from the background laser field. It is seen that the relative intensity of the laser ripple becomes critical due to the counteracting behaviour of the self-focusing and depletion of the main beam. To speed up publication, the authors of this paper have agreed to not receive the proofs for correction.     

Optical guiding of laser beam in nonuniform plasma

A plasma channel produced by a short ionising laser pulse is axially nonuniform resulting from the self-defocusing. Through such preformed plasma channel, when a delayed pulse propagates, the phenomena of diffraction, refraction and self-phase modulation come into play. We have solved the nonlinear parabolic partial differential equation governing the propagation characteristics for an approximate analytical solution using variational approach. Results are compared with the theoretical model of Liu and Tripathi (Phys. Plasmas 1, 3100 (1994)) based on paraxial ray approximation. Particular emphasis is on both beam width and longitudinal phase delay which are crucial to many applications.     

On the transverse distribution of a resonance field excited by a Gaussian electromagnetic beam on the critical surface of a radially nonuniform plasma sphere

The transverse distribution of the resonance field excited by a Gaussian electromagnetic field on the critical surface of a radially nonuniform plasma sphere is studied. Analytical expressions are obtained for this distribution. It is shown that when a laser beam is focused in front of or behind a spherical target, identical values of the integrated resonance coefficient can correspond to substantially different (in width) distributions of the resonance field over the spherical critical surface. Zh. Tekh. Fiz. 67, 125–128 (October 1997)     

Off-axial contribution of beam self-focusing in plasma with density ripple

Off-axial contribution of beam self-focusing in plasma with density ripple is investigated. Apply paraxial ray theory and Wentzel–Krammers–Brillouin approximation, the results shown that, in interaction of laser and plasma with density ripple, beam self-focusing presents some interesting diverse features when off-axial contribution is obvious. In the paper, we find, on the one hand, density ripple can minimize the defocusing and beam still retains a localized profile with an oscillatory self-focusing and defocusing, on the other hand, with the increase of off-axial contribution, laser beams presents four various self-focusing features, which laser beam intensity profile splits into three-splitted with central axial convex profile, three-splitted with equal amplitude profile, three-splitted with central axial concave profile and two-splitted intensity profile.     

Optical guiding of elliptical laser beam in nonuniform plasma

Guiding of laser beam in plasma channel formed by short ionizing laser pulse is studied in this paper. When a delayed pulse propagates through this channel diffraction, refraction and self-phase modulation phenomena results which are not balanced resulting in increase/decrease in beam width. These are studied using direct Variational Technique. In this paper cross-focussing phenomena is not observed. Parameters like beam width and longitudinal-phase delay of elliptical laser beam are also studied. It has been observed that the propagation of semi-major axis and semi-minor axis of elliptical beam are independent leading to oscillating guided beam.     

Growth of a laser ripple in a magnetoplasma and its effect on plasma wave excitation

Summary This paper presents an investigation of the growth of a radially symmetrical ripple, superimposed on a Gaussian laser beam in a collisionless magnetoplasma. The effect of the magnetic field and the intensity of the laser on the growth of the ripple is presented in some detail. The effect of the presence of the ripple on the excitation of an electron plasma wave is also investigated. Coupling of a weak plasma wave with the main laser beam is through the modified background density. The combined effect of increased intensity of the laser beam and magnetic field is observed to suppress the growth of the ripple as well as the excitation of the plasma wave. The authors of this paper have agreed to not receive the proofs for correction.     

Nonlinear gain of a dipole antenna immersed in a collisionless plasma

This paper presents an investigation of the effect of collisionless plasma on the equatorial gain of a high power dipole antenna. The plasma experiences a ponderomotive force in the non-uniform radiation field and the electron density gets redistributed; the plasma gets depleted in the centre and the near equatorial zone of the antenna. This nonuniformity in the electron density (hence in the dielectric constant) tends to converge the electromagnetic power to the equatorial zone. For typical parameters a 20% (i.e., ∼1 dB) enhancement in the gain of the antenna has been predicted within the limits of the perturbation theory. Work partially supported by NSF (USA)     

Second-harmonic generation of a Gaussian laser beam in a self created magnetized plasma channel

The second-harmonic generation of an intense self-guided right circularly polarized laser beam in a magnetized plasma is investigated. The laser imparts oscillatory velocity to electrons and exerts a radial ponderomotive force on them to create a depleted density channel. The critical power for self-focusing shows huge reduction as electron cyclotron frequency approaches the laser frequency (/spl omega//sub c/ /spl rarr/ /spl omega/). In the presence of the self-created radial density gradient, the laser drives a density perturbation at the fundamental frequency. The density perturbation beats with the oscillatory velocity to produce a second harmonic current density, driving second harmonic radiation copropagating with the laser. The second harmonic, however, is azimuthally asymmetric with /spl theta/-variation as exp(i/spl theta/). Its amplitude shows resonant enhancement as /spl omega//sub c/ /spl rarr/ /spl omega/.     

Relativistic self-focusing and self-channeling of Gaussian laser beam in plasma

In the present paper, we have studied the self-focusing of a laser beam in a relativistic plasma. We have set up the non-linear differential equation for the beam width parameter of the main beam by using the moment theory approach and solved it numerically by the Runge–Kutta method. The results obtained are in agreement with the findings of the simulation (3D PIC). A new stable form of self-channeling propagation has also been observed.     

Induced focusing and conversion of a Gaussian beam into an elliptic Gaussian beam

We have presented an investigation of the induced focusing in Kerr media of two laser beams, the pump beam and the probe beam, which could be either Gaussian or elliptic Gaussian or a combination of the two. We have used variational formalism to derive relevant beam-width equations. Among several important findings, the finding that a very week probe beam can be guided and focused when power of both beams are well below their individual threshold for self-focusing, is a noteworthy one. It has been found that induced focusing is not possible for laser beams of any wavelength and beam radius. In case both beams are elliptic Gaussian, we have shown that when power of both beams is above a certain threshold value then the effective radius of both beams collapses and collapse distance depends on power. Moreover, it has been found that induced focusing can be employed to convert a circular Gaussian beam into an elliptic Gaussian beam.     

Dynamics of resonant self-focusing on second harmonic generation of Gaussian laser beam in a rippled density plasma

Resonant second harmonic generation by a Gaussian laser beam in a rippled density plasma is studied using the moment theory approach. The nonlinearity arises through the relativistic mass effect and ponderomotive forces. The laser beam creates a plasma channel and gives rise to electron density perturbation at the laser frequency. The density perturbation beats with electron quiver velocity to produce second harmonics. The ripple provides phase matching and makes the process a resonant one. The second harmonic power efficiency is increased effectively with density ripple. Self-focusing causes enhancement in the efficiency of harmonic generation.     

Gaussian beam diffraction by a quasi-optical grating for coupling to lower-hybrid plasma waves

This paper is dedicated to the theoretical approach to the problem of modelling quasi-optical launchers of plasma waves in the lower-hybrid range of frequencies, when a gaussian beam is the incident field. Numerical results are presented and discussed comparing the cases of a gaussian beam and a plane wave as an incident field [1].     

Nonlinear structure of Gaussian laser beam in an axial non-uniform collisional plasma

Nonlinear structure of Gaussian laser beam in axial non-uniform underdense collisional plasma is investigated. Due to the combination effect of nonlinear ohmic heating and non-uniform of plasma, and which it modifies electrons temperature and density distribution. On the one hand, due to the effect of the nonlinear ohmic heating, electron temperature and electron density oscillations become highly peaked. On the other hand, due to add the influence of non-uniform of plasma, lead to the departure from sinusoidal shape of electrons temperature, electron density and electromagnetic fields distributions. With the increase of laser intensity, these nonlinear variations become more and more obvious, and their oscillations wavelength decrease.     

Spectral shift of a stochastic electromagnetic Gaussian Schell-model beam in a Gaussian cavity

Spectral changes of a stochastic electromagnetic Gaussian Schell-model (EGSM) beam interacting with a Gaussian cavity are investigated. It is shown that the spectral shift is mainly determined by the degree of polarization of the initial beam and by the parameters of the cavity. Generically the blue shift occurs at on-axis points, while the red shift can occur at off-axis points. The condition under which the relative spectral shift is independent of the degree of polarization of the initial beam is analyzed.     

Gaussian beam coupling on a MEMS mirror array

A general formula for evaluating Gaussian beam coupling characteristics on a MEMS mirror array was developed, with consideration of parameters such as beam size, mirror width and mirror gap. Based on the formula, the influence of each parameter on the spectral response was simulated for MEMS mirror array employed in a wavelength selective switch and a tunable optical filter. The simulation results are helpful for the design of MEMS mirror array in optical devices.     

Collapse arrest in a two-dimensional Airy Gaussian beam and Airy Gaussian vortex beam in nonlocal nonlinear media

Propagation dynamics of a two-dimensional Airy Gaussian beam and Airy Gaussian vortex beam are investigated numerically in local and nonlocal nonlinear media. The self-healing and collapse of the beam crucially depend on the distribution factor b and the topological charge m. With the aid of nonlocality, a stable Airy Gaussian beam and an Airy Gaussian vortex beam with larger amplitude can be obtained, which always collapse in local nonlinear media. When the distribution factor b is large enough, the Airy Gaussian vortex beam will transfer into quasi-vortex solitons in nonlocal nonlinear media.     

Propagation of a Gaussian beam in a gyrotropic medium

Propagation of a slightly diverging Gaussian beam in a gyrotropic medium [constitutive equation (1.1)] across the gyration vector g is considered. The polarization, phase, and geometrical features of the beams are elucidated. For a sufficiently small gyrotropy, the medium deflects the beams like a wedge while for a sufficiently large gyrotropy the medium focuses them like a cylindrical lens. For the field polarized along g, focusing automatically and completely eliminates the diffraction broadening of the beam along this direction.