Propagation of a Laser Beam in a Plasma.
Abstract
This paper shows that for a nonabsorbing medium with a prescribed index of refraction, the effects of beam stability, line focusing, and beam distortion can be predicted from simple ray optics. When the paraxial approximation is used, diffraction effects are examined for Gaussian, Lorentzian, and square beams. Most importantly, it is shown that for a Gaussian beam, diffraction effects can be included simply by adding imaginary solutions to the paraxial ray equations. Also presented are several procedures to extend the paraxial approximation so that the solution will have a domain of validity of greater extent. (Author)
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Oct 01, 1975
- Accession Number
- ADA023261
Entities
People
- Jirair Kevorkian
- John M. Chapman
- Juris Vagners
- Loren C. Steinhauer
Organizations
- University of Washington