Pulse Expansion and Doppler Shift of Ultrahigh Intense Short Pulse Laser by Slightly Overdense Plasma

Abstract

The interactions between ultrahigh intense laser and overdense plasmas were investigated by the use of a 1-1/2 dimensional electromagnetic relativistic particle-in-cell code, EMPAC. When the effective electron plasma frequency is reduced below the laser frequency by increasing the inertial electron mass due to the relativistic effect, the ultrahigh intense short pulse laser can penetrate the overdense plasma, but is completely reflected after propagating to a certain extent, except for a portion of the absorbed laser. The pulse length of the reflected laser is expanded more than that of the incident laser by a modulation due to the anomalous penetration, and the pulse expansion factor can be predicted by the schematic model. The frequency of the reflected laser can be calculated by the Doppler shift formula coupled with a relativistic dispersion relation, and is good agreement with the simulation result. The anomalously penetrating pulse shows soliton-like behaviors in the plasma after the incident laser has vanished.