High power laser-matter interaction. (Q984493)

The investigation of the interaction of electromagnetic fields with macroscopic matter, and especially the high power laser-matter interaction, represents a modern, vastly developing, and physically rich field of scientific research. The aim of the present work is the description of the main aspects of laser-matter interaction in the laser intensity range \(10^{10}-10^{22}\) W/cm\(^2\). \(10^{10}\) W/cm\(^2\) correspond to the threshold of plasma formation on the nanosecond timescale, \(10^{22}\) W/cm\(^2\) are the highest energy flux densities currently available by femtosecond lasers. There exist already a few good volumes on laser-matter interaction. But laser physics is developing very quickly and it has been ramified into many branches of fundamental studies and applications. Thus, the authors tried to offer a more unified and, at the same time, more detailed view on the subject, where this is now possible. In the book many considerations are added which are not covered in former textbooks or monographies. After a short introduction, in Chapter 2 of the work, the formation process of the plasma by intense laser beams is discussed. The subsequent plasma dynamics is described phenomenologically by the use of the two-fluid model. Thereby, the important properties of the plasma are its quasineutrality and the shielding effects. Another basic concept is the laser light absorption by collisions and its equivalence to the inverse bremsstrahlung model. This concept is phenomenologically introduced in Chapter 2 and then studied in detail in Chapter 3. Generally it is believed that the so-called dielectric approach gives the most satisfactory description of absorption. However, by comparison with the ballistic model the authors show that under a strong electron drift in the intense laser field the standard dielectric models are inappropriate because of showing very bad convergence and leading to erroneous physical conclusions, for instance on shielding. The root of the difficulties lies in the inappropriate choice of harmonic waves as a basis of description. The search for an adequate basis is still going on. Chapter 4 is dedicated mainly to the description of linear resonance absorption at the plasma frequency and its weak nonlinearities as well as the self-quenching of the high-amplitude electron plasma wave by wave breaking. In laboratories, laser-light pressure may be generated which exceeds the gas pressure in the sun by two orders of magnitude. However, already at moderate laser intensities the role of light and wave pressure (ponderomotive force) for the plasma dynamics and ablation pressure (profile steepening) as well as for the origin of a whole class of parametric instabilities has become evident. This is shown in detail and under various aspects in Chapters 5 and 6. At the threshold of laser break-down avalanche ionization occurs by electron impact once a sufficient number of free electrons has been created. At high laser intensities above \(10^{12}\) W/cm\(^2\), multiphoton and sequential and non-sequential field ionization start dominating and simultaneously lead to a variety of other effects, as, e.g., above-threshold ionization plateau, channel closing, high-harmonic generation, and non-collisional multiple ionization of atoms, described altogether in Chapter 7. Finally, Chapter 8 is dedicated to physics induced by relativistic laser beam intensities beyond \(10^{18}\) W/cm\(^2\), like electron acceleration, collisionless absorption in simulations and the analysis of the underlying heating mechanism in overdense targets, self-focusing, and applications. Owing to the dominance of relativistic effects, a short systematic introduction to relativity and to relativistic kinetic theory is also presented. In general, the authors prefer fluid models to the various kinetic approaches for their physical evidence and simplicity. After all, as already mentioned, the reader seems to find in the present work considerations not presented in earlier volumes. Examples are the topological aspects of ideal fluid dynamics and the elementary introduction to dimensional analysis and similarity in Chapter 2, the oscillator model of dynamical shielding, the nonphysical origin of asymptotic formulas of collisional absorption under strong drift containing the product of two logarithms and a true argument on why the classical Landau length is to be replaced by the reduced de Broglie wavelength in Chapter 3, a thorough discussion of the Fresnel limit of linear resonance absorption in steep density profiles and an attempt to classify the various routes into wave breaking (Chapter 4), alternative derivations of the ponderomotive force density in plasmas and a purely physical proof of the unstable response of the plasma to this force in Chapters 5 and 6, the treatment of the ionization dynamics in strong laser fields by a whole variety of modern theoretical approaches (Chapter 7), and finally, the solution of the problem of collisionless absorption in overdense matter. As with growing laser intensities the researcher in the field is more and more faced with relativistic phenomena, a short introduction to essential relativity effects is also given. The authors tried to present the subject in a self-contained manner. The book is intended for students of graduate courses, but it may be also useful for scientists as a reference book. Basic knowledge in theoretical mechanics, electrodynamics and quantum physics are the only prerequisites expected from the reader. (The review is composed based on Chapter 1 of the book.)