Evidence of relativistic laser beam filamentation in back-reflected images

Phys Rev E Stat Phys Plasmas Fluids Relat Interdiscip Topics. 2000 Aug;62(2 Pt B):2672-7. doi: 10.1103/physreve.62.2672.

Abstract

The back-reflected image of a 100 TW laser incident on a long scale length plasma is measured. The plasma is deliberately preformed on a solid planar target in a controlled way. Multiple highly intense spots are observed inside the original focal spot. These spots could be the experimental evidence for the laser beam relativistic filamentation in the plasma. Three-dimensional particle-in-cell (PIC) simulations for parameters close to the experimental values are performed. The experimental observations and the filamentation dynamics obtained in the PIC simulations are in a good agreement.