Helium and hydrogen plasma waveguides for high-intensity laser channeling

The results of cross polarized pump-probe experiments in preformed He plasma waveguides are reported. Pump and probe have same wavelength and duration of 800nm and 80fs respectively. Peak pump intensity is I[subscript guided] = 0.2X10¹⁸W/cm² ~1000 I[subscript probe]. Single shot probe spectra and mode profiles at the channel exit are discriminated from the pump with a polarization analyzer and captured at various relative time delays [Delta]t. Frequency-domain interference (FDI) between the probe and a weak depolarized component of the pump is observed for [scientific equation]. Although the depolarized component is nearly undetectable through measurement of pump leakage alone, FDI sensitively reveals its substantially non-Gaussian structure. The possible depolarization mechanisms are analyzed. When probe is positioned at the leading edge of the pump, [scientific equation], its spectrum suffers a blue shift not measurable in the transmitted pump itself. The evidence suggests the channel interior is fully ionized and the partially formed channel ends are the origin of both depolarization and blue shift. A robust, pulsed, differentially-pumped plasma channel generation cell for high intensity guiding experiments has been developed. The design includes an axicon lens, windows for transverse interferometry, and permits injection of one or two different gases (main gas plus high Z seed gas) with several millisecond injection times and simultaneous 0.1ms pressure sensing resolution. Very well formed plasma waveguides have been formed in helium as well as hydrogen, at repeatable and well controlled pressures up to 1000Torr, with very uniform interior density, rapid density drop at boundaries, and very low exterior density. The possible danger associated with the use of large amounts of hydrogen was considered and a complex safety system was designed, constructed and used. Extensive analysis of channel profile reconstruction through transverse interferometry was performed. This includes an intuitive, efficient reformulation and extension of the Phase Locked Loop (PLL) carrier fringe demodulation method. It is also demonstrated and explained how and under which conditions artificial fringe frequency multiplication can reduce demodulation distortions in both PLL and Fast Fourier Transform (FFT) methods.