Inverse bremsstrahlung stabilization of noise in the generation of ultrashort intense pulses by backward Raman amplification

Inverse bremsstrahlung absorption of the pump laser beam in a backward Raman amplifier over the round-trip light transit time through the subcritical density plasma can more than double the electron temperature of the plasma and produce time-varying axial temperature gradients. The resulting increased Landau damping of the plasma wave and detuning of the resonance can act to stabilize the pump against unwanted amplification of Langmuir noise without disrupting nonlinear amplification of the femtosecond seed pulse. Because the heating rate increases with the charge state Z, only low-Z plasmas (hydrogen, helium, or helium-hydrogen mixtures) will maintain a low enough temperature for efficient operation. (C) 2004 American Institute of Physics.