Laser beam self-focusing in collisional plasma with periodical density ripple

In the paper, we applied the paraxial region theory and Wentzel--Kramers--Brillouin approximation to study laser beam self-focusing in the interaction of laser and collisional plasma with periodical density ripple. The results have shown that, under the influence of collision nonlinear effect, laser presents stable self-focusing, self-defocusing, and oscillational self-focusing in the plasma. Besides, the parameters of plasma with periodical density ripple have a greater impact on the effect of self-defocusing and oscillational self-focusing than stable self-focusing. In certain conditions, beam self-defocusing and oscillational self-focusing would decline and even disappear, and stable self-focusing would further be strengthened. Hence, selecting a suitable periodic plasma system is advantageous for separating self-defocusing and oscillational self-focusing, and for the formation of a more stable collisional self-focusing.