Strong reduction of the degree of spatial coherence of a laser beam propagating through a preformed plasma.
A strong reduction of the spatial coherence of a laser beam after its propagation through a plasma has been measured using a Fresnel biprism interferometer. The laser beam was diffraction limited; the coherence width was reduced from 40 mm in vacuum down to a few mm with the plasma. Numerical results based on a paraxial model exhibit a coherence degree close to the experimental one; they also prove the importance of taking into account the nonlocal transport effects in numerical simulations for such plasma conditions.
Michel
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Laboratoire pour l'Utilisation des Lasers Intenses, UMR 7605 CNRS-Ecole Polytechnique-CEA-Université Paris VI, Ecole Polytechnique, 91128 Palaiseau Cedex, France.
Labaune
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C
Bandulet
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HC
Lewis
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K
Depierreux
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S
Hulin
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S
Bonnaud
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G
Tikhonchuk
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VT
Weber
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S
Riazuelo
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G
Baldis
H A
HA
Michard
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A