Ultrashort Laser-Plasma Solitons

Colorado School Of Mines, Golden CO

Investigators

Abstract

Tabletop laser systems with powers in the terawatt regime have made it possible to study high intensity laser-plasma interactions within a university environment. The goal of this research project is to identify experimentally a regime in which ultrashort laser-plasma solitons can be created. Such solitons, when created at high intenstities, are predicted to propagate with unchanging pulse duration and shape for distances large compared to those which, at low intensity, would result in the temporal stretching of the pulse. The research will seek to demonstrate that ultrashort laser pulses can propagate as temporal solitons and to investigate the stability of such solitons by varying the experimental conditions.