High efficiency guiding of terawatt subpicosecond laser pulses in a capillary discharge plasma channel

Transmission efficiencies in excess of 75% were obtained in the optical guiding of subpicosecond, terawatt laser pulses in a 2-cm-long capillary discharge plasma channel at the Naval Research Laboratory. The guided laser beam size at the exit of the channel was measured using far field imaging and Thomson scattering techniques. The guided laser intensity was >1x1017 W/cm2 at a guided beam diameter of 35 μm for a propagation length of 22 Rayleigh ranges. There is evidence that the plasma channel extends beyond the ends of the capillary and affects the far field beam structure of the transmitted laser pulse. copyright 1999 The American Physical Society