title: Observation of laser-pulse shortening in nonlinear plasma waves.
abstract: We have measured the temporal shortening of an ultraintense laser pulse interacting with an underdense plasma. When interacting with strongly nonlinear plasma waves, the laser pulse is shortened from 38 +/- 2 fs to the 10-14 fs level, with a 20% energy efficiency. The laser ponderomotive force excites a wakefield, which, along with relativistic self-phase modulation, broadens the laser spectrum and subsequently compresses the pulse. This mechanism is confirmed by 3D particle in cell simulations.
authors.affiliation: Laboratoire d'Optique Appliquée, Ecole Polytechnique, ENSTA, CNRS, UMR 7639, 91761 Palaiseau, France. jerome.faure@ensta.fr
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Faure
authors.forename: Y
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Glinec
authors.forename: J J
authors.initials: JJ
authors.lastname: Santos
authors.forename: F
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Ewald
authors.forename: J-P
authors.initials: JP
authors.lastname: Rousseau
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Kiselev
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Pukhov
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Hosokai
authors.forename: V
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Malka