Ionization waves of arbitrary velocity driven by a flying focus
arXiv:1712.07722 · doi:10.1103/PhysRevA.97.033835
Abstract
A chirped laser pulse focused by a chromatic lens exhibits a dynamic, or "flying," focus in which the trajectory of the peak intensity decouples from the group velocity. In a medium, the flying focus can trigger an ionization front that follows this trajectory. By adjusting the chirp, the ionization front can be made to travel at an arbitrary velocity along the optical axis. We present analytical calculations and simulations describing the propagation of the flying focus pulse, the self-similar form of its intensity profile, and ionization wave formation. The ability to control the speed of the ionization wave and, in conjunction, mitigate plasma refraction has the potential to advance several laser-based applications, including Raman amplification, photon acceleration, high harmonic generation, and THz generation.
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Cited by in corpus (22)
- Spatio-temporal characterization of ultrashort laser beams: a tutorial
- Photon Acceleration in a Flying Focus
- Vacuum acceleration of electrons in a dynamic laser pulse
- Nonlinear Thomson scattering with ponderomotive control
- Spatiotemporal control of laser intensity through cross-phase modulation
- Exact solutions for the electromagnetic fields of a flying focus
- Unveiling the transverse formation length of nonlinear Compton scattering
- Nonlinear spatiotemporal control of laser intensity
- WKB Electron Wave Functions in a Tightly Focused Laser Beam
- Laser-plasma acceleration beyond wave breaking
- Optical Shock-Enhanced Self-Photon Acceleration
- Signatures of vacuum birefringence in low-power flying focus pulses
- Focused fields of ultrashort radially-polarized laser pulses having low-order spatio-temporal couplings
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- Charged particle beam transport in a flying focus pulse with orbital angular momentum
- Ultrashort laser pulses with chromatic astigmatism
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- Laser-Plasma Interactions Enabled by Emerging Technologies
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