Abstract

High-order frequency conversion is one of several applications of a recently demonstrated plasma waveguide.¹ The plasma waveguide has a mode structure similar to that found in optical fibers² but may guide pulses of much higher intensity. Furthermore, in the limit that the refractive index is dominated by the free electrons and the ionic contribution may be neglected, the plasma-waveguide mode structure is independent of wavelength.³ Because the waveguide may support multiple beams (without any threshold for the channeled beams, as in self-focusing), wave-mixing phenomena and harmonic generation at very high intensities may be studied and exploited.

© 1995 Optical Society of America