Raman backscattering saturation due to coupling between ωp and 2ωp modes in plasma

Raj, G. and Ersfeld, B. and Vieux, G. and Yoffe, S. and Hur, Min Sup and Cairns, R. A. and Jaroszynski, D. A. (2015) Raman backscattering saturation due to coupling between ωp and 2ωp modes in plasma. New Journal of Physics, 17. 103026. ISSN 1367-2630 (https://doi.org/10.1088/1367-2630/17/10/103026)

[thumbnail of Raj-etal-NJP2015-raman-backscattering-saturation-due-coupling-between-ωp-2ωp]
Preview
Text. Filename: Raj_etal_NJP2015_raman_backscattering_saturation_due_coupling_between_p_2_p.pdf
Final Published Version
License: Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 logo

Download (1MB)| Preview

Abstract

Raman backscattering (RBS) in plasma is the basis of plasma-based amplifiers and is important in laser-driven fusion experiments. We show that saturation can arise from nonlinearities due to coupling between the fundamental and harmonic plasma wave modes for sufficiently intense pump and seed pulses. We present a time-dependent analysis that shows that plasma wave phase shifts reach a maximum close to wavebreaking. The study contributes to a new understanding of RBS saturation for counter-propagating laser pulses.