Second harmonic generation of Cosh-Gaussian laser beam in collisional plasma with nonlinear absorption

Abstract

This paper investigates second harmonic generation (SHG) of an intense Cosh-Gaussian (ChG) laser beam propagating through a preformed underdense collisional plasma with nonlinear absorption. Nonuniform heating of plasma electrons takes place due to the nonuniform irradiance of intensity along the wavefront of laser beam. This nonuniform heating of plasma leads to the self-focusing of the laser beam and thus produces strong density gradients in the transverse direction. The density gradients so generated excite an electron plasma wave (EPW) at pump frequency that interacts with the pump beam to produce its second harmonics. To envision the propagation dynamics of the ChG laser beam, moment theory in Wentzel–Kramers–Brillouin (W.K.B) approximation has been invoked. The effects of nonlinear absorption on self-focusing of the laser beam as well as on the conversion efficiency of its second harmonics have been theoretically investigated.