Relativistic harmonics for turbulent wakefield diagnostics

The propagation properties of relativistic harmonics excited in a plasma with an intense laser pulse is investigated theoretically and numerically. Focusing on the frequency separation, a cold electron fluid model in two spatial dimension is discussed to obtain the harmonic amplitude. The theoretical predictions are verified by performing particle-in-cell simulations in two spatial dimensions. When the laser amplitude is large, the strong ponderomotive force expels the electrons, creating a large amplitude density structures associated with the wakefield. The harmonics propagate obliquely with respect to the laser propagation direction, which is well represented by the structure of the high density layer resulting from the transverse poderomotive force. We also discuss a possible experimental setup to observe the density structures relevant to wakefield.