Abstract
Theoretical investigation has been conducted into the dynamics of electron plasma waves (EPWs) driven by lasers in plasmas featuring axial density ramps. To explore the impact of the laser beams' orbital angular momentum on both the propagation dynamics and the strength of the excited EPWs, the irradiance across the laser beam's cross section has been represented using a Laguerre–Gaussian beam profile. As the laser beam travels through the plasma, it stimulates an EPW at the pump frequency. This EPW becomes nonlinearly coupled to the laser beam due to the optical nonlinearity of the plasma. By employing variational theory and the W.K.B. approximation, semi-analytical solutions for the coupled nonlinear wave equations governing the pump wave and EPW have been derived. Notably, it has been observed that the power of the EPW is significantly influenced by the self-focusing effect of the pump beam.
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Gupta, N., Alex, A.K., Johari, R. et al. Excitation of electron plasma wave by self-focused Laguerre–Gaussian laser beams in axially inhomogeneous plasma: effect of orbital angular momentum of photons. J Opt (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12596-023-01560-9
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12596-023-01560-9