Numerical and Experimental Examples-Solitons

Abstract

AbstractThis section is devoted to plane waves perpendicularly incident on inhomogeneous plasmas. The forces in the plasma will be calculated numerically and compared with experiments. First, calculations without the nonlinear forces are considered, where the plasma dynamics are determined by the thermal pressure of the plasma after heating by the laser radiation. Subsequently, nonlinear forces are included. One of the early results was the discovery of the generation of a density minimum (caviton) by Shearer, Kidder, and Zink [171]. These minima can never be produced by thermokinetic pressures and are therefore typical for the plasma dynamics with nonlinear forces. The observation of these minima and the subsequent steepening of density profiles is the first tool for checking the action of nonlinear forces in experiments. The development of the nonlinear-force driven plasma dynamics is then shown to be typical for the generation of solitons. Macroscopic nonlinear absorption, caused by the net transfer of optical energy into kinetic energy of plasma without heating, occurs and leads to the mentioned soliton.KeywordsStanding WaveDensity ProfileLaser IntensityLaser FieldPlasma CoronaThese keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves.