Nonlinear Interactions between Electromagnetic Waves and Electron Plasma Oscillations in Quantum Plasmas

We consider nonlinear interactions between intense circularly polarized electromagnetic (CPEM) waves and electron plasma oscillations (EPOs) in a dense quantum plasma, taking into account the electron density response in the presence of the relativistic ponderomotive force and mass increase in the CPEM wave fields. The dynamics of the CPEM waves and EPOs is governed by the two coupled nonlinear Schrödinger equations and Poisson’s equation. The nonlinear equations admit the modulational instability of an intense CPEM pump wave against EPOs, leading to the formation and trapping of localized CPEM wave pipes in the electron density hole that is associated with a positive potential distribution in our dense plasma. The relevance of our investigation to the next generation intense laser-solid density plasma interaction experiments is discussed.

Figure 1

The profiles of the CPEM vector potential $A_{\perp }$, the electron number density, and the scalar potential (upper to lower rows of panels) for $\lambda =-0.3$, $\lambda =-3.4$, and $\lambda =-0.4$, with $H=0.002$.

Figure 2

The profiles of the CPEM vector potential $A_{\perp }$, the electron number density, and the scalar potential (upper to lower rows of panels) for $H=0.007$ and $H=0.002$, with $\lambda =-0.34$.

Figure 3

The dynamics of the CPEM vector potential $A_{\perp }$ and the electron number density $|\psi {|}^2$ (upper panels) and of the electrostatic potential $\Phi$ (lower panel) for $H=0.002$.

Figure 4

The dynamics of the CPEM vector potential $A_{\perp }$ and the electron number density $|\psi {|}^2$ (upper panels) and the electrostatic potential $\varphi$ (lower panel) for $H=0.007$.