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Search for stable propagation of intense femtosecond laser pulses in gas

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  17 December 2007

A. Giulietti ,
M. Galimberti ,
A. Gamucci ,
D. Giulietti ,
L.A. Gizzi ,
P. Koester ,
L. Labate ,
P. Tomassini ,
T. Ceccotti  and
P. D'Oliveira
...Show all authors
A. Giulietti
Affiliation:
Intense Laser Irradiation Laboratory, IPCF-CNR, Pisa, Italy
M. Galimberti
Affiliation:
Intense Laser Irradiation Laboratory, IPCF-CNR, Pisa, Italy
A. Gamucci
Affiliation:
Intense Laser Irradiation Laboratory, IPCF-CNR, Pisa, Italy
D. Giulietti*
Affiliation:
Intense Laser Irradiation Laboratory, IPCF-CNR, Pisa, Italy Department of Physics, University of Pisa, Pisa, Italy
L.A. Gizzi
Affiliation:
Intense Laser Irradiation Laboratory, IPCF-CNR, Pisa, Italy
P. Koester
Affiliation:
Intense Laser Irradiation Laboratory, IPCF-CNR, Pisa, Italy
L. Labate
Affiliation:
Intense Laser Irradiation Laboratory, IPCF-CNR, Pisa, Italy
P. Tomassini
Affiliation:
Intense Laser Irradiation Laboratory, IPCF-CNR, Pisa, Italy
T. Ceccotti
Affiliation:
CEA-DSM/DRECAM/SPAM, Gif sur Yvette Cedex, France
P. D'Oliveira
Affiliation:
CEA-DSM/DRECAM/SPAM, Gif sur Yvette Cedex, France
T. Auguste
Affiliation:
CEA-DSM/DRECAM/SPAM, Gif sur Yvette Cedex, France
P. Monot
Affiliation:
CEA-DSM/DRECAM/SPAM, Gif sur Yvette Cedex, France
P. Martin
Affiliation:
CEA-DSM/DRECAM/SPAM, Gif sur Yvette Cedex, France
*
Address correspondence and reprint request to: A. Giulietti, Intense Laser Laboratory, IPCF-CNR, Pisa, Italy. E-mail: antonio.giulitti@ipcf.cnr.it
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Abstract

We report and discuss experimental results on the propagation of CPA pulses of moderately relativistic intensity in gas: they evidence the effects of the precursor pedestals of the main pulse. Details of great interest were observed for the first time with high quality femtosecond 90-degree interferometry. The interferometric data are also correlated with imaging and spectroscopy data of laser pulse transmitted through the gas. The most relevant physical features are confirmed by a numerical code which simulates the laser pulse propagation self-consistently with the ionization of the gas. We found that in this regime, the propagation of the intense femtosecond pulse is basically stable apart from very weak refractive effects. In order to allow propagation at fixed intensity along an optical path larger than the Rayleigh range, we performed a first successful attempt at producing hollow plasma channels able to guide the pulse.

Keywords

Laser plasmaLaser pulse propagationUltra intense laser
Type
Research Article
Information
Laser and Particle Beams , Volume 25 , Issue 4 , December 2007 , pp. 513 - 521
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2007

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References

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