Observation of Superradiant Amplification of Ultrashort Laser Pulses in a Plasma

M. Dreher, E. Takahashi, J. Meyer-ter-Vehn, and K.-J. Witte
Phys. Rev. Lett. 93, 095001 – Published 25 August 2004

Abstract

We demonstrate the amplification of a femtosecond signal pulse in an underdense plasma by a novel mechanism called superradiant amplification. The pulse is amplified by a counterpropagating few picosecond long pump pulse. In the superradiant regime, the ponderomotive forces exceed the electrostatic forces and arrange the plasma electrons to reflect the pump light into the signal pulse. We found a significant amplification in energy and intensity. The time structure of the amplified signal pulse carries intrinsic features of the superradiant regime. Sub-10-fs pulses of petawatt power appear feasible.

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  • Received 12 December 2003

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.93.095001

©2004 American Physical Society

Authors & Affiliations

M. Dreher, E. Takahashi*, J. Meyer-ter-Vehn, and K.-J. Witte

  • Max-Planck-Institut für Quantenoptik, D-85748 Garching, Germany

  • *Present address: AIST, Tsukuba Ibaraki, 3058568 Japan.

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Issue

Vol. 93, Iss. 9 — 27 August 2004

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