Phys. Rev. E 66, 027402 (2002) [4 pages]Self-focusing and merging of two copropagating laser beams in underdense plasmaReceived 28 March 2002; published 7 August 2002 The propagation of two laser beams copropagating in underdense plasma has been studied numerically by solving their coupled envelope equations. It shows that two beams can merge each other, or split into three beams, or propagate with unstable trajectories, depending upon their power and initial beam separation. During the merging process, strong emission of radiation is observed. It also shows that the density cavitation channels due to the transverse ponderomotive force of the beams tend to trap them inside and prevent them from merging each other. © 2002 The American Physical Society URL:
http://link.aps.org/doi/10.1103/PhysRevE.66.027402
DOI:
10.1103/PhysRevE.66.027402
PACS:
52.35.Mw, 52.38.Hb, 42.65.Jx
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