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High-power laser delocalization in plasmas leading to long-range beam merging

Nature Physics volume 6, pages 1010–1016 (2010)Cite this article

Abstract

Attraction and fusion between co-propagating light beams, mutually coherent or not, can take place in nonlinear media as a result of the beam power modifying the refractive index of the medium. In the context of high-power light beams, induced modifications of the beam patterns could potentially impact many topics, including long-range laser propagation, the study of astrophysical colliding blast waves and inertial confinement fusion. Here, through experiments and simulations, we show that in a fully ionized plasma, which is a nonlinear medium, beam merging can take place for high-power and mutually incoherent beams that are initially separated by several beam diameters. This is in contrast to the usual assumption that this type of interaction is limited to beams separated by only one beam diameter. This effect, which is orders of magnitude more significant than Kerr-like nonlinearity in gases, demonstrates the importance of potential cross-talk amongst multiple beams in plasma.

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Figure 1: Delocalization of a high-power single laser beam propagating through a low-density plasma compared with stable propagation in vacuum.
Figure 2: Temporal dynamics of two parallel beams propagating in a 0.016nc plasma for two initial separation distances.
Figure 3: Plasma channel expansion allowing, or not, the formation of a common waveguide for two laser beams to merge.
Figure 4: 2D CHIC simulations of the plasma hydrodynamic evolution in a plane transverse to the beam propagation, showing the mechanism leading to plasma channel merging.
Figure 5: Behaviour of two beams coupling when the plasma density is increased.
Figure 6: Quantitative measurement of beam coupling in a plasma as a function of the mutual distance between the two beams and the plasma density.

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Acknowledgements

We acknowledge the support of the LULI teams and discussions with F. Amiranoff, L. Bergé, S. N. Chen, S. Hüller, M. Grech, S. Weber, J. P. Zou and Y. Sakawa. This work was supported by grant E1127 from Région Ile-de-France and by the CEA-EURATOM association as an IFE ‘keep-in-touch’ activity and by the Marie-Curie Actions programme from the EU community. M.N. was partially supported by JSPS Postdoctoral Fellowships for Research Abroad.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. LULI, Ecole Polytechnique, CNRS, CEA, UPMC, Route de Saclay, 91128 Palaiseau, France

    M. Nakatsutsumi, J-R. Marquès, P. Antici, N. Bourgeois, L. Romagnani, P. Audebert & J. Fuchs

  2. Graduate School of Engineering, Osaka University, 2-1 Yamada-oka, Suita, Osaka 565-0871, Japan

    M. Nakatsutsumi & R. Kodama

  3. Dipartimento SBAI, Università di Roma “La Sapienza”, 00161 Roma, Italy

    P. Antici

  4. Centre Lasers Intenses et Applications, Université Bordeaux 1–CNRS–CEA, 33405 Talence Cedex, France

    J. L. Feugeas & Ph. Nicolaï

  5. Fox Chase Cancer Center, Philadephia 19111-2497, USA

    T. Lin

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  1. M. Nakatsutsumi
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Contributions

M.N. (on leave from Osaka University, supervised by R.K.), J-R.M., P. Antici, N.B., T.L., L.R. and J.F. carried out the experiments, M.N., J-R.M. and J.F. analysed the data and wrote the paper with discussions with R.K. and P. Audebert, J.L.F. and P.N. carried out the numerical simulations, J.F. planned the project.

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Correspondence to J. Fuchs.

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Nakatsutsumi, M., Marquès, JR., Antici, P. et al. High-power laser delocalization in plasmas leading to long-range beam merging. Nature Phys 6, 1010–1016 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1038/nphys1788

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