Guided propagation of extremely intense lasers in plasma via ion motion

Abstract: The upcoming $10-100$ petawatt laser facilities may deliver laser pulses with unprecedented intensity of $10^{22}-10^{25}\rm~W cm^{-2}$, which can trigger various nonlinear quantum electrodynamic processes in plasma. For effective laser plasma interactions at such high intensity levels, guided laser propagation is critical. However, this becomes impossible via usual plasma electron response to laser fields due to electron cavitation by the laser ponderomotive force. Here, we find that ion response to the laser fields may effectively guide laser propagation at such high intensity levels. The corresponding conditions of the required ion density distribution and laser power are presented and verified by three-dimensional particle-in-cell simulations. Our theory shall serve as a guide for future experimental design involving ultrahigh intensity lasers.