Numerical solutions are given for the two-dimensional axisymmetric problem of self-focusing of powerful short-duration circularly polarized laser pulses in both initially homogeneous plasmas and static preformed plasma columns. These solutions account for (1) diffraction, (2) refraction arising from variations in the refractive index due to the spatial profile of the electron density distribution, (3) the relativistic electronic mass shift, and (4) transverse ponderomotively driven charge displacement. The most important spatial modes of propagation corresponding to the combined action of both the relativistic and charge-displacement mechanisms are described. It is demonstrated that the dynamical solutions of the propagation tend asymptotically to the lowest eigenmodes of the governing nonlinear Schroedinger equation.

Date Published: 5 February 1992
PDF: 10 pages
Proc. SPIE 1551, Ultrashort Wavelength Lasers, (5 February 1992); doi: 10.1117/12.134824

Published in SPIE Proceedings Vol. 1551:
Ultrashort Wavelength Lasers
Szymon Suckewer, Editor(s)