Relativistic and ponderomotive effects on laser plasma interaction dynamics

摘要

The combined effect of relativistic and ponderomotive nonlinearities on the propagation characteristics and modulation instability of a laser beam propagating through partially stripped plasma is studied. Under the present approach it is seen that the ponderomotive nonlinearity tends to defocus the laser beam as against the nonlinear relativistic self-focusing phenomenon. Also density perturbation arising due to the ponderomotive nonlinearity when combined with relativistic nonlinearity tends to increase the modulation instability of the laser beam. The peak growth rate is enhanced in comparison to the case where ponderomotive nonlinearity is neglected. (C) 2004 American Institute of Physics.