Plasma zone plate for high-power lasers driven by a Laguerre-Gaussian beam

Abstract

Plasma-based optics has emerged as an attractive alternative to traditional solid-state optics for high-power laser manipulation due to its higher damage threshold. In this work, we propose a plasma zone plate (PZP) driven by the ponderomotive force of a Laguerre-Gaussian beam when it irradiates an underdense plasma slice. We formulate the theory of the PZP and demonstrate its formation and function of focusing high-power lasers using particle-in-cell simulations. The proposed scheme may offer a new method to focus and manipulate high-power lasers with plasma-based optics