title: Strong reduction of the degree of spatial coherence of a laser beam propagating through a preformed plasma.
abstract: 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.
authors.affiliation: Laboratoire pour l'Utilisation des Lasers Intenses, UMR 7605 CNRS-Ecole Polytechnique-CEA-Université Paris VI, Ecole Polytechnique, 91128 Palaiseau Cedex, France.
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Michel
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Labaune
authors.forename: H C
authors.initials: HC
authors.lastname: Bandulet
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Lewis
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Depierreux
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Hulin
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Bonnaud
authors.forename: V T
authors.initials: VT
authors.lastname: Tikhonchuk
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Weber
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Riazuelo
authors.forename: H A
authors.initials: HA
authors.lastname: Baldis
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Michard