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Syllabus_Lecture_Notes_Collective_Phenomena_In_Laser_Plasmas_Phy998_2_Fall_2013, Serge Y. Kalmykov

Serge Youri Kalmykov

Interaction of high-power laser radiation with rarefied, fully ionized plasmas is rich in nonlinear collective phenomena. It is essentially three-dimensional and is dominated by the excitation of various modes of plasma oscillations, most important of which are electron Langmuir waves. These waves may trap externally injected electrons or initially quiescent plasma electrons, accelerating them to GeV-scale energies. Laser pulses can also launch collisionless shocks, which may accelerate plasma ions to MeV energies. Furthermore, relativistic mass effect and electron density perturbations by the radiation pressure cause laser pulse self-focusing and filamentation, leading to the radiation pulse self-guiding over many Rayleigh lengths. …