Mechanism of heating of pre-formed plasma electrons in relativistic laser-matter interaction
- University of California-San Diego, La Jolla, California 92093 (United States)
The role of the longitudinal ambipolar electric field, present inside a pre-formed plasma, in electron heating and beam generation is investigated by analyzing single electron motion in the presence of one electromagnetic plane wave and 'V' shaped potential well (constant electric field) in a one dimensional slab approximation. It is shown that for the electron confined in an infinite potential well, its motion becomes stochastic when the ratio of normalized laser electric field a{sub 0}, to normalized longitudinal electric field E{sub z}, exceeds unity, i.e., a{sub 0}/E{sub z} Greater-Than-Or-Equivalent-To 1. For a more realistic potential well of finite depth, present inside the pre-formed plasma, the condition for stochastic heating of electrons gets modified to 1 Less-Than-Or-Equivalent-To a{sub 0}/E{sub z} Less-Than-Or-Equivalent-To {radical}(L), where L is the normalized length of the potential well. The energy of electron beam leaving such a potential well and entering the solid scales {approx}a{sub 0}{sup 2}/E{sub z}, which can exceed the laser ponderomotive energy ({approx}a{sub 0}) in the stochastic regime.
- OSTI ID:
- 22072439
- Journal Information:
- Physics of Plasmas, Vol. 19, Issue 6; Other Information: (c) 2012 American Institute of Physics; Country of input: International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA); ISSN 1070-664X
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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