Simulation of ultrahigh intensity laser pulses

Summary form only given. It has been suggested that colliding a short laser pulse with a long laser pulse in a plasma can, under appropriate circumstances, greatly amplify the short pulse by drawing energy from the long pulse. The coupling between laser pulses occurs through a three-wave interaction with a resonant plasma wave, and is sensitive to the shape of the laser pulse. Previous studies of this concept have been based primarily on 1D theory and fluid simulations. Here, we report on 2D PIC studies using the XOOPIC code. Energy transfer between pulses is studied for a range of system parameters and comparisons are made with theory and 1D simulations.