Boosting the performance of Brillouin amplification at sub-quarter-critical densities via reduction of parasitic Raman scattering

Trines, R M G M and Alves, E P and Humphrey, K A and Bingham, R and Cairns, R A and Fiúza, F and Fonseca, R A and Silva, L O (2021) Boosting the performance of Brillouin amplification at sub-quarter-critical densities via reduction of parasitic Raman scattering. Plasma Physics and Controlled Fusion, 63 (12). 124003. ISSN 0741-3335 (https://doi.org/10.1088/1361-6587/ac2cd9)

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Abstract

Brillouin amplification of laser pulses in plasma has been shown to be a promising approach to produce picosecond pulses of petawatt power. A key challenge is preservation of the quality of the amplified pulse, which requires control of parasitic instabilities that accompany the amplification process. At high plasma densities ( >cr /4), ponderomotive filamentation has been identified as the biggest threat to the integrity of the amplifying pulse. It has therefore been proposed to perform Brillouin scattering at densities below ncr/4 to reduce the influence of filamentation. However, parasitic Raman scattering can become a problem at such densities, contrary to densities above ncr/4 where it is forbidden. In this paper, we investigate the influence of parasitic Raman scattering on Brillouin amplification at densities below ncr/4 . We expose the specific problems posed by both Raman backward and forward scattering, and how both types of scattering can be mitigated, leading to an increased performance of the Brillouin amplification process.

ORCID iDs

Trines, R M G M, Alves, E P, Humphrey, K A, Bingham, R ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9843-7635, Cairns, R A, Fiúza, F, Fonseca, R A and Silva, L O;
  • Item type:Article
    ID code:78399
    Dates:
    Date
    Event
    31 December 2021
    Published
    25 October 2021
    Published Online
    5 October 2021
    Accepted
    12 April 2021
    Submitted
    Subjects:Science > Physics
    Department:Faculty of Science > Physics
    Depositing user: Pure Administrator
    Date deposited:04 Nov 2021 15:05
    Last modified:11 Nov 2024 13:16
    URI:https://strathprints.strath.ac.uk/id/eprint/78399
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