Excitation of electron plasma wave by optically guided \({\varvec{q}}\)-gaussian laser beam in plasma channel created by ignitor heater technique

Theoretical investigation has been conducted into the dynamics of electron plasma waves (EPWs) driven by lasers in plasma channels created by ignitor heater technique. To explore the impact of the guided laser beams' irradiance profile on both the propagation dynamics of guided beam and the strength of the excited EPW, the irradiance across the laser beams’ cross-section has been represented using \(q\) $q$ -Gaussian beam profile. As the laser beam travels through the plasma channel, it stimulates an EPW at the pump frequency. This EPW becomes nonlinearly coupled to the laser beam due to the optical nonlinearity of the plasma. By employing moment theory and the W.K.B. approximation, semi-analytical solutions for the coupled nonlinear wave equations governing the ignitor, heater, guided beam and EPW have been derived. Notably, it has been observed that the power of the EPW is significantly influenced by the self-focusing effect of the pump beam.