Propagating characters of Gaussian laser beam in plasmas with non-homogeneous radial temperature distribution

► Radial Gaussian distribution of plasma temperature in laser-plasmas interaction. ► Two dynamic mechanisms of collisional and ponderomotive nonlinearities are involved. ► Propagating characters of laser beam for different ratio parameters are discussed. ► Divergence mode is accessible with severer variation of radial temperature. ► Self-trapping or self-focusing mode could occur when ratio parameter excesses 1.