The Interaction of High-Power Lasers With Plasmas

Abstract

This book deals with the fundamental physics of numerous plasmaprocesses that occur during laser plasma interactions.The subject matter is related to both basic plasmaphysics and applied physics. The author starts with theessentials of high power lasers whose duration ranges fromnanoseconds to femtoseconds, and then builds up an introductionto plasma physics by describing ionization, well known transportcoefficients (electrical and thermal conductivities, diffusion,viscosity, energy transport etc), Debye length, plasmaoscillations and the properties of the laser induced plasmamedium. The book contains plasma dynamical equations fordescribing the hydrodynamic and kinetic phenomena, andtreating particle dynamics by computer simulation.The ponderomotive force is discussed for small amplitudeelectromagnetic fields in an unmagnetized plasma.However, for intense laser beams one should obtain newexpressions for the relativistic ponderomotive force, whichare totally absent from this book. Furthermore, in laser plasmainteractions strong magnetic fields are produced which willdrastically modify the relativistic ponderomotive forceexpressions. The physics of collisional absorption ofelectromagnetic waves and their propagation in a nonuniformunmagnetized plasma has been elegantly described. The phenomenaof the resonance absorption of laser light is alsodiscussed. Simple models for the parametric processes are developed,while there are no discussions of cavitons/envelope solitons.The latter are usually regarded as possible nonlinear statesof the modulational/filamentational instabilities.Rather, the author presents a description of a K-dV equationfor nonlinear ion-acoustic waves without the laser field.The description of a non-envelope ion-acoustic solitonhas already appeared in many plasma physics textbooks.The book contains a short chapter on the self-similar plasmaexpansion in vacuum, double layers, and charged particleacceleration. However, the author has not touched on theplasma based high energy charged particle accelerators, whichinvolve short intense laser pulses and which are at the frontier ofmodern plasma physics. There is a nice chapter dealing with laserinduced magnetic fields and waves in magnetized plasmas. The physicsand mathematical details of the electron energy transportand heat waves, which are of significant interest in inertialconfinement fusion, are described in depth. Comprehensive studiesof shock waves and rarefaction waves are presented, and theirrelevance to high power pulsed laser drivers is discussed.Finally, the author has given a lucid description of hydrodynamicinstabilities (i.e. the Rayleigh-Taylor, the Richtmyer-Meshkov,the Kelvin-Helmholtz), which are of great importance inlaser-plasma interactions and in astrophysics. It would havebeen nice if the author would have also included a more physicaldescription of the nonlinear evolution of those instabilitieswhich play a significant role in the formation of fingers,bubbles and vortices in laboratories and in astrophysical settings.The book is well written and will serve as a valuable assetfor graduate students and physicists working in the area oflaser plasma interactions and high energy astrophysics.It should also be useful for teaching masters levelcourses on laser plasma interactions. The reviewer highlyrecommends the book to the interested reader.P K Shukla