Measuring the refractive index of a Laser-PLasMa oPticaL systeM

LLE Review, Volume 148 181 Using laser-plasma optical systems to manipulate the basic properties of light waves has caused a recent surge of interest.1–4 Plasma-based photonic devices are attractive because they can be ultrafast, damage resistant, and easily tunable. Alleviating concerns about optic damage by replacing conventional optics with plasma-based components could lead to the next generation of high-power, large-scale laser facilities. Plasma gratings in particular have received a great deal of attention because they are routinely used to mediate cross-beam energy transfer in indirect-drive inertial confinement fusion (ICF) experiments at the National Ignition Facility (NIF).5–7 Multiple experiments8,9—including ICF experiments at the NIF10,11—have consistently failed, however, to observe the level of energy transfer expected on the basis of linear theory.