Effect of axial electron temperature and plasma density ramp on self-focusing / defocusing of a laser beam in plasma

Abstract

In the present study, we analyze the self-focusing / defocusing of an intense laser beam in the plasma under combined effect of density ramp and higher order axial electron temperature. The differential equation for beam width parameter is obtained and then solved numerically under paraxial ray approximation. The behavior of beam width parameter with propagation distance is extensively investigated for different values of optimized parameters and is strongly influenced by the higher order axial electron temperature, Tp4. The results indicate that the electron temperature component Tp4 is not of little significance than Tp0 and Tp2. Under the influence of plasma density ramp and higher order axial electron temperature Tp4 the defocusing is reduced and self-focusing becomes stronger, especially for large propagation distance. Furthermore, increase in the density ramp results more reduction in the laser beam spot size and hence, increase in the intensity of the laser which may be useful for various applications including laser-driven fusion.