Numerical modeling of quasitransient backward Raman amplification of laser pulses in moderately undercritical plasmas with multicharged ions

Abstract

It was proposed recently that powerful optical laser pulses could be efficiently compressed through backward Raman amplification in ionized low density solids, in spite of strong damping of the resonant Langmuir wave. It was argued that, even for nonsaturated Landau damping of the Langmuir wave, the energy transfer from the pump laser pulse to the amplified seed laser pulse can nevertheless be highly efficient. This work numerically examines such regimes of strong damping, called quasitransient regimes, within the simplest model that takes into account the major effects. The simulations indicate that compression of powerful optical laser pulses in ionized low density solids indeed can be highly efficient.