Plasma modulator for high-power intense lasers

A type of plasma-based optical modulator is proposed for the generation of broadband high-power laser pulses. Compared with normal optical components, plasma-based optical components can sustain much higher laser intensities. Here we illustrate via theory and simulation that a high-power sub-relativistic laser pulse can be self-modulated to a broad bandwidth over 100% after it passes through a tenuous plasma. In this scheme, the self-modulation of the incident picoseconds sub-relativistic pulse is realized via stimulated Raman forward rescattering in the quasi-linear regime, where the stimulated Raman backscattering is heavily dampened. The optimal laser and plasma parameters for this self-modulation have been identified. For a laser with asub-relativistic intensity of I ∼ 10¹⁷W/cm², the time scale for the development of self-modulation is around 10³ light periods when stimulated Raman forward scattering has been fully developed. Consequently, the spatial scale required for such a self-modulation is in the order of millimeters. For a tenuous plasma, the energy conversion efficiency of this self-modulation is around 90%. Theoretical predictions are verified by both one-dimensional and two-dimensional particle-in-cell simulations.