Effect of laser pulse rise time on heating of a magnetically confined plasma

Abstract

For a magnetically confined plasma the effect of laser pulse rise time on heating is considered theoretically. The hydrodynamic equations are solved analytically in the asymptotic limit. We find that for a certain range the laser pulse energy requirement is quite sensitive to the rise time. By properly choosing the laser pulse rise time, the energy requirement can be decreased as much as 25%. The maximum radiation flux density is however not very sensitive and increases only slightly. It seems that fast-rising laser pulses are superior as far as flux is concerned but are inferior to slow-rising laser pulses from the point of view of energy requirement.