Kinetic analytical modeling of Gaussian pulse beam-bending including the transient regime

The advection by a flow of ponderomotively driven density fluctuations may lead to the deflection of a laser pulse. This effect, known as beam bending, may modify the irradiation geometry and energy deposition in high energy laser plasma experiments. A kinetic modeling of beam-bending of a Gaussian laser pulse is proposed and validated by means of particle-in-cell simulations over a vast parametric domain, demonstrating the importance of accounting for kinetic damping of driven ion-acoustic waves. The transient regime is also addressed and compared to kinetic simulations.