Formation of plasma channels in the interaction of a nanosecond laser pulse at moderate intensities with helium gas jets.

We report on a detailed study of channel formation in the interaction of a nanosecond laser pulse with a He gas jet. A complete set of diagnostics is used in order to characterize the plasma precisely. The evolution of the plasma radius and of the electron density and temperature are measured by Thomson scattering, Schlieren imaging, and Mach-Zehnder interferometry. In gas jets, one observes the formation of a channel with a deep density depletion on axis. Because of ionization-induced defocusing which increases the size of the focal spot and decreases the maximum laser intensity, no channel is observed in the case of a gas-filled chamber. The results obtained in various gas-jet and laser conditions show that the channel radius, as well as the density along the propagation axis, can be adjusted by changing the laser energy and gas-jet pressure. This is a crucial issue when one wants to adapt the channel parameters in order to guide a subsequent high-intensity laser pulse. The experimental results and their comparison with one-dimensional (1D) and two-dimensional hydrodynamic simulations show that the main mechanism for channel formation is the hydrodynamic evolution behind a supersonic electron heat wave propagating radially in the plasma. It is also shown from 2D simulations that a fraction of the long pulse can be self-guided in the channel it creates. The preliminary results and analyses on this subject have been published before [V. Malka et al., Phys. Rev. Lett. 79, 2979 (1997)].