Spatiotemporal evolution of ponderomotive electron heating in axially inhomogeneous collisionless plasma
- Institute for Plasma Research (IPR), Gandhinagar (India)
- Institute of Physics, University of Pecs, Pecs 7624 (Hungary)
We investigate the spatiotemporal focusing dynamics of a Gaussian laser pulse in preformed collisionless plasma subjected to an axial nonuniformity in the plasma density. In order to follow up the pulse dynamics, a nonlinear Schrödinger wave equation characterizing the beam spot size in space and time frame has been derived and solved numerically to investigate the propagation characteristics as the pulse advances in the plasma. The effect of inhomogeneity on focusing length and ponderomotive electron heating have been analyzed and illustrated graphically. It is seen that ponderomotive heating is quite sensitive to the inhomogeneity parameters and the energy gain by electrons can be optimized by suitable choice of parameters.
- OSTI ID:
- 22227972
- Journal Information:
- Physics of Plasmas, Vol. 20, Issue 7; Other Information: (c) 2013 AIP Publishing LLC; Country of input: International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA); ISSN 1070-664X
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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