Strong plasma wave excitation by a ‘‘chirped’’ laser beat wave

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Abstract
A modification of the plasma beat‐wave excitation scheme is proposed, aimed at a significant increase of the resulting plasma wave amplitude. The modification employs two laser beams with a down‐chirped beat frequency that follows, on the average, the amplitude‐dependent frequency of the intense plasma wave. Numerical and analytical calculations that support the proposed scheme are presented. Also, new analytical solutions for the constant beat‐frequency case are obtained. Finally, a plausible experimental setup is suggested, where one of two CO2 laser beams attains the necessary frequency chirp by passing through a diffraction grating pair.