Dynamical aspects of plasma gratings driven by a static ponderomotive potential

In this work, a quasi-neutral plasma grating is considered, generated by two counter-propagating identical laser beams. Typical time scales associated with such gratings are given by tunit = √ mi/2Zme(kv0)-1, where v0 is the electron quiver in the laser field of wavevector k. In most situations, the behavior of the grating can be characterized by a single parameter, μ, which is proportional to the ratio of background electron temperature to the square of the electron quiver velocity. Indeed, even for quasi-neutral gratings, electron pressure might play an important role, via adiabatic electron heating. The influence on grating formation and lifetime of other parameters involving the inclusion of dissipative effects or kinetic effects is also examined in detail. Finally, an approximated analytical solution to the fluid model is found and shows good agreement with first-principle simulations.