Fast Compression of Laser Beams to Highly Overcritical Powers

Abstract

Laser beams can be strongly compressed in a plasma by stimulated Raman backscattering in a time short compared to the time scale for filamentation instabilities to develop. Such a compression should make feasible multi-MJ multi-exawatt-laser pulses technologically challenging by other means. The compression efficiency can reach nearly $100%$ at the Langmuir wave breaking limit.