Surface Waves on a Plasma Half-Space

Kaw, P. K.; McBride, J. B.

doi:10.1063/1.1693155

Cited by 110 publications

(82 citation statements)

References 6 publications

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“…14 To improve absorption of the laser energy, advantage can be taken of surface plasma wave excitation. [15][16][17][18][19][20] Under certain conditions, these waves can be supported by an overdense plasma with a stepwise density profile. 21 Such laser-excited surface plasma waves are localized at the plasma-vacuum interface.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Strongly Enhanced Laser Absorption and Electron Acceleration via Resonant Excitation of Surface Plasma Waves

Raynaud¹,

Riconda²,

Adam³

et al. 2010

AIP Conference Proceedings

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Two-dimensional ͑2D͒ particle-in-cell numerical simulations of the interaction between a high-intensity short-pulse p-polarized laser beam and an overdense plasma are presented. It is shown that, under appropriate physical conditions, a surface plasma wave can be resonantly excited by a short-pulse laser wave, leading to strong relativistic electron acceleration together with a dramatic increase, up to 70%, of light absorption by the plasma. Purely 2D effects contribute to enhancement of electron acceleration. It is also found that the angular distribution of the hot electrons is drastically affected by the surface wave. The subsequent ion dynamics is shown to be significantly modified by the surface plasma wave excitation.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Strongly Enhanced Laser Absorption and Electron Acceleration via Resonant Excitation of Surface Plasma Waves

Raynaud¹,

Riconda²,

Adam³

et al. 2010

AIP Conference Proceedings

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…9,10 To overcome these difficulties, new mechanisms have been investigated in order to improve laser absorption and electron acceleration by considering structured targets [11][12][13][14][15][16] which, in particular, allow the excitation of surface plasma waves (SPWs). 17 These waves are supported by a stepwise profile, overdense (x pe > x 0 , with x 0 the laser frequency) plasma when the condition for resonant excitation are satisfied. SPWs propagate along the plasma-vacuum interface and are characterized by a localized, high frequency, resonant electric field.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Efficient laser-overdense plasma coupling via surface plasma waves and steady magnetic field generation

et al. 2011

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The efficiency of laser overdense plasma coupling via surface plasma wave excitation is investigated. Two-dimensional particle-in-cell simulations are performed over a wide range of laser pulse intensity from 10 15 to 10 20 W cm À2 lm 2 with electron density ranging from 25 to 100n c to describe the laser interaction with a grating target where a surface plasma wave excitation condition is fulfilled. The numerical studies confirm an efficient coupling with an enhancement of the laser absorption up to 75%. The simulations also show the presence of a localized, quasi-static magnetic field at the plasma surface. Two interaction regimes are identified for low (

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“…I shall briefly describe this mechanism because this has also been Kahaly et al (2008). It is well known (Kaw and McBride 1970) that a sharp interface plasma supports surface waves with the dispersion relation…”

Section: Collisionless Linear Light Absorption: Some Novel Empirical mentioning

confidence: 99%

Nonlinear laser–plasma interactions

Kaw

2017

Rev. Mod. Plasma Phys.

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Soon after lasers were invented, there was tremendous curiosity on the nonlinear phenomena which would result in their interaction with a fully ionized plasma. Apart from the basic interest, it was realized that it could be used for the achievement of nuclear fusion in the laboratory. This led us to a paper on the propagation of a laser beam into an inhomogeneous fusion plasma, where it was first demonstrated that light would go up to the critical layer (where the frequency matches the plasma frequency) and get reflected from there with a reflection coefficient of order unity. The reflection coefficient was determined by collisional effects. Since the wave was expected to slow down to near zero group speed at the reflection point, the dominant collision frequency determining the reflection coefficient was the collision frequency at the reflection point. It turned out that the absorption of light was rather small for fusion temperatures. This placed a premium on investigation of nonlinear phenomena which might contribute to the absorption and penetration of the light into high-density plasma. An early investigation showed that electron jitter with respect to ions would be responsible for the excitation of decay instabilities which convert light waves into electrostatic plasma waves and ion waves near the critical frequency. These electrostatic waves would then get absorbed into the plasma even in the collisionless case and lead to plasma heating which is nonlinear. Detailed estimates of this heating were made. Similar nonlinear processes which could lead to stimulated scattering of light in the underdense region ðx [ x p Þ were investigated together with a number of other workers. All these nonlinear processes need a critical threshold power for excitation. Another important process which was discovered around the same time had to do with filamentation and trapping of light when certain thresholds were exceeded. All of this work has been extensively verified in laser plasma experiments and have become the backbone of our present understanding of how lasers nonlinearly interact with fully ionized fusion plasmas. A review of this early work will be presented. We shall also present a review of our involvement in the recent work on nonlinearpenetration of light into overdense plasmas with gradual and sharp interfaces.

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Surface Waves on a Plasma Half-Space

Cited by 110 publications

References 6 publications

Strongly Enhanced Laser Absorption and Electron Acceleration via Resonant Excitation of Surface Plasma Waves

Strongly Enhanced Laser Absorption and Electron Acceleration via Resonant Excitation of Surface Plasma Waves

Efficient laser-overdense plasma coupling via surface plasma waves and steady magnetic field generation

Nonlinear laser–plasma interactions

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