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Transient self-focusing of an intense laser pulse in magnetized plasmas under non-paraxial approximation

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 May 2013

D.N. Gupta ,
K. Avinash  and
H. Suk
D.N. Gupta*
Affiliation:
Department of Physics and Astrophysics, University of Delhi, Delhi, India
K. Avinash
Affiliation:
Department of Physics and Astrophysics, University of Delhi, Delhi, India
H. Suk
Affiliation:
Department of Physics and Photon Science, Gwangju Institute of Science and Technology, Gwangju, South Korea
*
Address correspondence and reprint requests to: D.N. Gupta, Department of Physics and Astrophysics, University of Delhi, Delhi 110 007, India. E-mail: dngupta@physics.du.ac.in
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Abstract

Non-paraxial approximation based study of transient self-focusing of an intense short-pulse laser in plasma has been investigated by considering the effect of a transverse magnetic field. The laser with non-uniform distribution of intensity exerts a ponderomotive force on electrons and sets in an ambi-polar diffusion of the plasma. The ambient magnetic field, however, strongly inhibits the process, when the electron Larmor radius is comparable to or shorter than the laser spot size. As the plasma density is depleted, the laser beam becomes more self-focused. This study addresses a significant enhancement in the laser self-focusing rate by including the correction terms due the off-axis approximation.

Keywords

Laser-Plasma interactionsNon-linearitySelf-focusing
Type
Research Article
Information
Laser and Particle Beams , Volume 31 , Issue 2 , June 2013 , pp. 307 - 312
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2013 

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