Propagation of a Short Intense Laser Pulse in a Curved Plasma Channel

In this paper, the propagation of a short intense laser pulse in a curved plasma channel is considered. The effects of the shape of the plasma density profile and feedback from the wakefield on the pulse envelope dynamics are studied, with particular attention being paid to the conditions for avoiding laser spot size and centroid oscillations. A possible application to laser wakefield acceleration in the nonlinear regime is discussed.