title: Asymmetric self-phase modulation and compression of short laser pulses in plasma channels.
abstract: A relativistically intense femtosecond laser pulse propagating in a plasma channel undergoes dramatic photon deceleration while propagating a distance on the order of a dephasing length. The deceleration of photons is localized to the back of the pulse and is accompanied by compression and explosive growth of the ponderomotive potential. Fully explicit particle-in-cell simulations are applied to the problem and are compared with ponderomotive guiding center simulations. A numerical Wigner transform is used to examine local frequency shifts within the pulse and to suggest an experimental diagnostic of plasma waves inside a capillary.
authors.affiliation: Icarus Research, Inc, PO Box 30780, Bethesda, Maryland 20824-0780, USA.
authors.forename: D F
authors.initials: DF
authors.lastname: Gordon
authors.forename: B
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Hafizi
authors.forename: R F
authors.initials: RF
authors.lastname: Hubbard
authors.forename: J R
authors.initials: JR
authors.lastname: Peñano
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Sprangle
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Ting