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Modulational instability of an ultra-intense laser pulse in electron–positron plasmas

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  03 May 2013

QIANG-LIN HU ,
GUI-LAN XIAO  and
XIAO-GUANG YU
QIANG-LIN HU
Affiliation:
Department of Physics, Jinggangshan University, Ji'an, Jiangxi 343009, People's Republic of China (qlhu@jgsu.edu.cn)
GUI-LAN XIAO
Affiliation:
Library, Jinggangshan University, Ji'an, Jiangxi 343009, People's Republic of China
XIAO-GUANG YU
Affiliation:
Department of Physics, Jinggangshan University, Ji'an, Jiangxi 343009, People's Republic of China (qlhu@jgsu.edu.cn)
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Abstract

This paper investigates the modulational instability of a linearly polarized ultra-intense laser pulse propagating in electron–positron plasmas. Based on the wave equation, which contains vacuum polarization and magnetization effects, the nonlinear dispersion relation and the growth rate of instability are obtained and the effects of plasma number density and laser intensity on the growth rate are analyzed. Numerical results show that if the laser intensity is high enough, the modulational instability growth rate induced by vacuum polarization and magnetization nonlinearity can dominate the modulational instability growth rate induced by the nonlinearity associated with a relativistic effect and ponderomotive force.

Type
Papers
Information
Journal of Plasma Physics , Volume 79 , Issue 5 , October 2013 , pp. 771 - 776
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2013 

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