The reduced-description particle-in-cell model for the two plasmon decay instability

Journal Article · Thu Jul 15 00:00:00 EDT 2010 · Physics of Plasmas

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1063/1.3457927· OSTI ID:21389124

Vu, H X ^[1]; DuBois, D F ^[2]; Russell, D A ^[2]; Myatt, J F ^[3]

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1. University of California, San Diego, La Jolla, California 92093 (United States)
2. Lodestar Research Corporation, Boulder, Colorado 80301 (United States)
3. Laboratory for Laser Energetics, University of Rochester, Rochester, New York 14623 (United States)

Recently, motivated by the resurgent interest in suprathermal electron generation by two plasmon decay (TPD) in direct-drive laser-fusion [J. A. Delettrez et al., Bull. Am. Phys. Soc. 53, 248 (2008); V. A. Smalyuk et al., Phys. Rev. Lett. 100, 185005 (2008); B. Yaakobi et al., Phys. Plasmas 12, 062703 (2005)], the fully kinetic, reduced-description, particle-in-cell (RPIC) methodology has been extended to include TPD. It provides a computationally efficient fully kinetic simulation tool, especially in nonlinear regimes where the Langmuir decay instability (LDI) is a dominant saturation mechanism. This RPIC methodology is an extension of the modeling of laser-plasma instabilities in underdense plasmas reported previously [H. X. Vu, B. Bezzerides, and D. F. DuBois, J. Comput. Phys. 156, 12 (1999)]. The relationship between RPIC and the extended Zakharov model previously used for TPD [D. F. DuBois, D. A. Russell, and H. A. Rose, Phys. Rev. Lett. 74, 3983 (1995)] is explored theoretically and tested in simulations. The modification of the electron velocity distribution - in particular, the generation of hot electrons - as calculated in RPIC leads to weakening of the wave turbulence excited by TPD compared to the Zakharov model predictions but the locations in wave vector space of important spectral features, e.g., arising from the LDI, of the nonlinear wave fluctuations are exactly the same in the two approaches. New results involving two oblique, overlapping laser beams, a common geometrical feature in direct-drive schemes, are presented. The two laser beams can cooperatively excite common primary Langmuir waves which initiate the LDI process.

• OSTI ID: 21389124
• Journal Information: Physics of Plasmas, Vol. 17, Issue 7; Other Information: DOI: 10.1063/1.3457927; (c) 2010 American Institute of Physics; ISSN 1070-664X
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY
DECAY INSTABILITY
ELECTRONS
FLUCTUATIONS
LASERS
NONLINEAR PROBLEMS
PLASMA
PLASMA SIMULATION
THERMONUCLEAR REACTIONS
TURBULENCE
VELOCITY
ELEMENTARY PARTICLES
FERMIONS
INSTABILITY
LEPTONS
NUCLEAR REACTIONS
NUCLEOSYNTHESIS
PLASMA INSTABILITY
SIMULATION
SYNTHESIS
VARIATIONS