This textbook provides a comprehensive introduction to the physics of laser-plasma interactions (LPI), based on a graduate course taught by the author. The emphasis is on high-energy-density physics (HEDP) and inertial confinement fusion (ICF), with a comprehensive description of the propagation, absorption, nonlinear effects and parametric ...

This book is designed to give students a thorough foundation in the fundamental physics of laser-plasma interactions. It will also provide readers with knowledge of the latest research trends and elucidate future exciting challenges in laser-plasma science.

Light propagation and energy deposition in plasmas is at the center of most HED and inertial confinement fusion concepts. At LLNL, our research encompasses all aspects of these interactions, from laser-energy deposition, to the development …

Since the early 1960s the interaction of laser light with a plasma proved an extremely rich topic, with many... Pulsed lasers delivering intensities I > 1011 W/cm2 are unique tools for concentrating energy into matter, which is soon brought to the plasma state.

laser interaction with plasma is indispensable for many applications, including inertial confinement nuclear fusion and laboratory astrophysics. Our primary in-terest concerns the plasmas created with high energy, high power lasers with inten-sities in the range of 1012 −1016 W/cm2 and pulse duration ranging from several

Abstract. A short, tutorial introduction to some basic concepts of laser-plasma interactions at ultra-high intensities is given. The selected topics include a) elements of the relativistic dynamics of an electron in elec-tromagnetic fields, including the ponderomotive force and classical ra-

The interaction of an ultra-intense laser pulse and plasma can produce ultrahigh electric field gradients—more than three orders of magnitude beyond those of conventional radio-frequency accelerators. The BELLA PW laser can accelerate ions to …

Conversions to SI units are given here in the hand-outs. • The laser can propagate in a plasma until what is known as the critical density surface. The dispersion relationship for electromagnetic waves in a plasma is . 1 v B ) . Neglecting the v B term, then the quiver velocity vosc is. The dimensionless vector potential is defined as.

The interaction between plasma and high-intensity laser pulses is an exciting re- search area where modern state-of-the-art lasers are approaching the ability to produce laser intensities of 10 23 W/cm 2 .

The intense laser beam can create a variety of secondary processes in this plasma. Some of these processes can be deleterious to the efficiency of the implosion: diverting the laser energy, disturbing the symmetry of the convergence, or prematurely heating the imploding fuel.