Interaction of two neighboring laser beams taking into account the effects of plasma hydrodynamics

The interaction between two neighboring laser beams focused in a hot underdense homogeneous plasma is investigated using the non-paraxial wave coupling code KOLIBRI [S. Hüller et al., Phys. Scr. T63, 151 (1996)] in two and three spatial dimensions. Both the plasma hydrodynamic evolution and the stimulated Brillouin scattering (SBS) aspects are studied in the case of strongly damped ion sound waves. The hydrodynamic effects consist in ponderomotively driven density perturbations located between the beams which may, in turn, influence strongly the light propagation through the plasma. The two beams are found to merge whenever the distance between them is smaller than or of the order of their diameter. Concerning the SBS aspect, it is found that due to interference effects between the beams, the spatial amplification of the backscattered light is asymmetric with respect to the laser axis. SBS can also enforce the hydrodynamic effects and the beam merging.