Improving the relativistic self-focusing of intense laser beam in plasma using density transition

Abstract

The propagation of a Gaussian beam in underdense plasma with upward increasing density ramp is analyzed. In this work are shown that the spot size oscillations of laser beam increases and its amplitude shrinks with proper plasma density ramp. This causes the laser beam to become more focused and penetrations deep into the plasma by reduction of diffraction effect. The related focusing parameters are optimized to get the best possible focusing at the relativistic threshold intensity of Nd-glass laser and the effect of the laser intensity in the self-focusing parameters is also investigated. The analytical calculations are presented and showed more reliable results in comparison to the previous works.