Cross focusing of mixed mode operation in an extra dense plasma

This paper presents a study of the nonlinear propagation of a mixture of two degenerate modes (TEM00 and TEM10) of a high power laser beam in an extradense plasma. The high irradiance inhomogeneous laser beam creates an electron density gradient region in the overdense plasma (n > nsub(c)) through which the beam can propagate. The focusing effects have been studied for different power ratios of the two modes (TEM00 mode is considered to be stronger than the TEM10 mode). Self-focusing of the beam in x and y directions for critical power has been extensively studied. (author)