Plasma modulator for high-power intense lasers

Zhao, Yao and Weng, Suming and Sheng, Zhengming and Kang, Ning and Liu, Huiya and Zhu, Jianqiang and Zhang, Jie (2020) Plasma modulator for high-power intense lasers. Optics Express, 28 (11). pp. 15794-15804. ISSN 1094-4087

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    Abstract

    A type of plasma-based optical modulator is proposed for the generation of broadband high-power laser pulses. Compared with normal optical components, plasma-based optical components can sustain much higher laser intensities. Here we illustrate via theory and simulation that a high-power sub-relativistic laser pulse can be self-modulated to a broad bandwidth over 100% after it passes through a tenuous plasma. In this scheme, the self-modulation of the incident picoseconds sub-relativistic pulse is realized via stimulated Raman forward rescattering in the quasi-linear regime, where the stimulated Raman backscattering is heavily dampened. The optimal laser and plasma parameters for this self-modulation have been identified. For a laser with asub-relativistic intensity of I ∼ 1017W/cm2, the time scale for the development of self-modulation is around 103 light periods when stimulated Raman forward scattering has been fully developed. Consequently, the spatial scale required for such a self-modulation is in the order of millimeters. For a tenuous plasma, the energy conversion efficiency of this self-modulation is around 90%. Theoretical predictions are verified by both one-dimensional and two-dimensional particle-in-cell simulations.

    ORCID iDs

    Zhao, Yao, Weng, Suming, Sheng, Zhengming ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8823-9993, Kang, Ning, Liu, Huiya, Zhu, Jianqiang and Zhang, Jie;
    • Item type:Article
      ID code:73015
      Dates:
      Date
      Event
      25 May 2020
      Published
      Keywords:plasma-based optical modulators, high-power laser pulses, optical devices, Electrooptical modulators, laser plasmas, Raman scattering, Plasma physics. Ionized gases, Atomic and Molecular Physics, and Optics
      Subjects:Science > Physics > Plasma physics. Ionized gases
      Department:Faculty of Science > Physics
      Depositing user: Pure Administrator
      Date deposited:02 Jul 2020 13:25
      Last modified:30 Apr 2021 02:12
      URI:https://strathprints.strath.ac.uk/id/eprint/73015
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