Cross-focusing of Mixed Mode Operation in a Collisional Plasma

This paper presents a study of the nonlinear propagation of a mixture of two degenerate modes (TEM 00 and TEM 10 ) of a high power laser beam in a collisional plasma. The non-linear dependence of the dielectric constant inside the collisional plasma is due to non-uniform redistribution of carriers on account of their inhomogeneous heating. The focusing effects have been studied for different power ratios of the two modes and the absorption effects have also been considered. In certain power regions considered the beam either converges or defocuses in both the directions, while in some other defined regions of the power spectrum one dimension of the beam focuses and the other defocuses.