The Interaction of High-Power Lasers with Plasmas

by Eliezer; Shalom

• ISBN13: 9780750307475
• ISBN10: 0750307471
• Edition: 1st
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2002-08-16
• Publisher: CRC Press

Summary

Professor Eliezer provides a thorough self-contained discussion of the physical processes occurring in laser-plasma interactions, including a detailed review of the relevant plasma and laser physics. Laser absorption and propagation, electron transport and the relevant plasma waves are analysed in detail. The physics of the electric and magnetic fields in a laser induced plasma medium, laser induced shock waves, rarefaction waves, heat waves and the related hydrodynamic instabilities (Rayleigh-Taylor, Richtmyer-Meshkov and Kelvin-Helmholtz) are also discussed.This book is not a summary of research results but rather it is a pedagogical presentation where the basic physics issues are addressed from first principles. Simple models are used wherever appropriate, and the material presented here is a foundation on which the graduate student can build an understanding of the past and present research in this field. For the experienced researcher, this book is a comprehensive and useful presentation of laser-plasma interactions.

Table of Contents

High Power Lasers, from Nanoseconds to Femtoseconds	1	(13)
Basics	2	(5)
A Stroll through a Glass Laser System	7	(4)
The oscillator	8	(1)
The amplifiers	9	(1)
Spatial filters	10	(1)
Isolators	10	(1)
Diagnostics	10	(1)
Highlights of the Femotsecond Laser	11	(3)
Introduction to Plasma Physics for Electrons and Ions	14	(33)
Ionization	14	(3)
Cross Section, Mean Free Path and Collision Frequency	17	(5)
Transport Coefficients	22	(5)
Electrical conductivity	22	(1)
Thermal conductivity	23	(1)
Diffusion	24	(2)
Viscosity	26	(1)
Radiation Conductivity	27	(6)
Bound--bound (bb) transitions	27	(1)
Bound--free (bf) transitions	28	(1)
Free--free (ff) transitions	28	(1)
Energy transport	28	(5)
Debye Length	33	(3)
Plasma Oscillations and Electron Plasma Waves	36	(4)
The Dielectric Function	40	(2)
The Laser-Induced Plasma Medium	42	(5)
The Three Approaches to Plasma Physics	47	(18)
Fluid Equations	47	(4)
Mass conservation	47	(1)
Momentum conservation	48	(1)
Energy conservation	49	(2)
Eulerian and Lagrangian Coordinates	51	(3)
`Femtosecond' Laser Pulses	54	(1)
Boltzmann-Vlasov Equations	55	(6)
Liouville's theorem	55	(1)
Vlasov equation	56	(1)
Boltzmann equation	57	(1)
The moment equations	58	(3)
Particle Simulations	61	(4)
The Ponderomotive Force	65	(9)
The Landau--Lifshitz Ponderomotive Force	65	(3)
The Single-Particle Approach to Ponderomotive Force in Plasma	68	(1)
The Effect of Ponderomotive Force on Wave Dispersion	69	(5)
The electron wave dispersion	69	(2)
The ion wave dispersion	71	(3)
Laser Absorption and Propagation in Plasma	74	(31)
Collisional Absorption (Inverse Bremsstrahlung)	74	(5)
The Electromagnetic Wave Equation in a Plasma Medium	79	(2)
Slowly Varying Density---the WKB Approximation	81	(3)
Linear Varying Density---the Airy Functions	84	(4)
Obliquely Incident Linearly Polarized Laser	88	(3)
s-polarization	90	(1)
p-Polarization: the Resonance Absorption	91	(5)
Femtosecond Laser Pulses	96	(9)
Waves in Laser-Produced Plasma	105	(29)
Foreword to Parametric Instabilities	105	(5)
The Forced Harmonic Oscillator	110	(2)
Landau Damping	112	(3)
Parametric Decay Instability	115	(5)
Stimulated Brillouin Scattering	120	(4)
A Soliton Wave	124	(10)
A historical note	124	(2)
What is a soliton?	126	(1)
What is a solitary wave?	126	(1)
The wave equation	126	(1)
Ion plasma wave and the KdV equation	127	(7)
Laser-Induced Electric Fields in Plasma	134	(10)
High- and Low-Frequency Electric Fields	134	(1)
Expansion of Plasma into the Vacuum	135	(3)
Double Layers	138	(2)
Charged Particle Acceleration	140	(4)
A static model	140	(1)
A dynamic model	141	(3)
Laser-Induced Magnetic Fields in Plasma	144	(31)
The n x T Toroidal Magnetic Field	145	(1)
Magneto-Hydrodynamics and the Evolution of the Magnetic Field	146	(7)
The generalized Ohm's law	147	(4)
The magnetic Reynolds number	151	(1)
Magnetic Reynolds numbers Rm << 1	151	(1)
Magnetic Reynolds numbers Rm >> 1	152	(1)
Faraday and Inverse Faraday Effects	153	(9)
The Faraday effect	153	(4)
The inverse Faraday effect	157	(2)
Angular momentum considerations	159	(3)
Waves in the Presence of the Steady-State Magnetic Field	162	(7)
Ordinary and Extraordinary Waves	162	(3)
Electromagnetic waves propagating parallel to Bo	165	(3)
Alfven waves	168	(1)
Resonance Absorption in a Magnetized Plasma	169	(6)
Thermal Conduction and Heat Waves	175	(38)
The Scenario	175	(5)
The Rocket Model	180	(3)
Relaxation Rates	183	(6)
The Fokker--Planck Equation	189	(6)
The Spitzer--Harm Conductivity	195	(3)
Hot Electrons	198	(7)
Heat Waves	205	(8)
Shock Waves and Rarefaction Waves	213	(41)
A Perspective	213	(3)
Sound Waves	216	(3)
Rarefaction Waves	219	(2)
Shock Waves	221	(12)
Shock Waves in the Presence of Magnetic Fields	233	(4)
The Study of High-Pressure Physics	237	(4)
Studies of Equations of State	241	(8)
Studies of Dynamic Strength of Materials	249	(5)
Hydrodynamic Instabilities	254	(30)
Background	254	(6)
Rayleigh--Taylor Instability, Linear Analysis	260	(4)
Ablation-Surface Instability	264	(2)
The Magnetic Field Effect	266	(3)
Bubbles from Rayleigh--Taylor Instability	269	(3)
Richtmyer--Meshkov Instability	272	(7)
The differential equation for the pressure in regions 1 and 2	275	(1)
The boundary conditions on the interface	276	(1)
The boundary conditions at the shock-wave surfaces	276	(3)
Kelvin--Helmholtz Instability	279	(5)
Appendix A: Maxwell Equations	284	(6)
Appendix B: Prefixes	290	(1)
Appendix C: Vectors and Matrices	291	(6)
Appendix D: A Note on the Maxwell Distribution	297	(3)
Bibliography	300	(9)
Index	309