Parametric instability in the formation of plasma waveguides.
Plasma waveguides generated by focusing a moderate intensity laser into neutral gas with an axicon lens can be unstable to the generation of axial modulations in the channel parameters. A model is proposed in which the modulations are due to the nonlinear coupling between the axicon field and a scattered mode in the evolving channel. Good agreement is found with experimental measurements of these modulations.
Cooley
J H
JH
Los Alamos National Laboratory, Los Alamos, NM 87545, USA.
Antonsen
T M
TM
Milchberg
H M
HM
Fan
J
J
Margolin
L
L
Pyatnitskii
L
L