Overview

Inthepresentvolumethemainaspectsofhigh-powerlaser-matterinteractionin 10 22 2 theintensityrange10 -10 W/cm aredescribed. Weofferaguidetothistopic forscientistsandstudentswhohavejustdiscoveredthe eldasanewandattractive areaofresearch,andforscientistswhohaveworkedinanother eldandwantto joinnowthesubjectoflaserplasmas. Beingawareofthewidedifferencesinthe degreeofmathematicalpreparationtheindividualcandidatehasacquiredwetried topresentthesubjectinanalmostself-containedmanner. Tobemorespeci c,a bachelordegreeinphysicsenablesthereaderinanycasetofollowwithoutdi- culty. Generally uidorgasdynamicsanditsrelativisticversionisnotapartof thiseducation;itisdevelopedinthecontextwhereitisneeded. Basicknowledgein theoreticalmechanics,electrodynamicsandquantumphysicsaretheonlyprereq- sitesweexpectfromthereader. Throughoutthebookthemainemphasisisonthe variousbasicphenomenaandtheirunderlyingphysics. Notmoremathematicsthan necessaryisintroduced. Thepreferenceisgiventoideas. Agoodmodelisthebest guidetotheadequatemathematics. Thereexistalreadysomebutnotsomany, however, goodvolumesandsome monographsonhigh-powerlaserinteractionwithmatter. Afterresearchinthis eld hasgrownoverhalfacenturyandhasrami edintomanybranchesoffundamental studiesandapplicationsproducingcontinuouslynewresults,thereisnoindication ofsaturationorlossofattraction,ratherhasexcitementincreasedwiththeyears: ""Therearenolimits;horizonsonly""(G. A. Mourou). Wetakethisasamotivation foranewattemptofpresentingourintroductiontotheachievementsfromthebeg- ninguptopresent. Anadditionalaimwastoofferamoreuni edormoredetailed viewwherethisispossiblenow. Furthermore,thereadermay ndconsiderations not encountered in existing volumes on the eld, e. g. , on ideal uid dynamics, dimensionalanalysis,questionsofclassicaloptics,instabilitiesandlightpressure. Inviewoftherapidlygrowing eldofatoms,moleculesandclustersexposedto superstronglaser eldsweconsidereditascompulsorytodedicateanentirechapter tolaser-atominteractionandtothevariousmoderntheoreticalapproachesrelated toit. Finally,aconsistentmodelofcollisionlessabsorptionisgiven. Dependingonpersonalpreferencesthereadermaymissperhapsasectionon inertialfusion,onhighharmonicgenerationandonradiationfromtheplasma,or ontraditionalatomicandionicspectroscopy. Inviewofthespecializedliterature vii viii Preface alreadyavailableonthesubjectswethinktheself-imposedrestrictionisjusti ed. Ourreferencingpracticewasguidedbyindicatingmaterialforsupplementaryst- iesandestablishingacontinuitythroughthedecadesofresearchinthe eldrather thanbytheaimofcompleteness. Thelatternowadaysiseasilyachievablewiththe aidoftheInternet. Wehavetestedthetextwithrespecttocomprehensionandreadability. Our rst thanksgotoProf. EdithBoriefromtheForschungszentrumKarlsruhe. Shepro- readgreatpartsofthetextverycarefullyandgavevaluablecomments. Insecond placewewouldliketothankMrs. ChristineEidmannfromTheoreticalQuantum A Electronics (TQE), TU Darmstadt, for typing in LTX half of the book. We are E furtherindebtedtoProf. RudolfBockfromGSI,Darmstadt,forhelpfuldiscussions andprecioushints. Furtherthanksforhelpfuldiscussions,criticalcomments,che- ingformulasgotoDr. HerbertSchnabl,Prof. WernerScheid,Dr. RalfSchneider, Dipl. -Phys. TatjanaMuth,Dr. SteffenHain,andDr. FrancescoCeccherini. Wewant toacknowledgeexplicitlythecontinuouseffortandsupportinpreparingthe nal manuscript by Dr. Su-Ming Weng from the Insitute of Physics, CAS, China, at presentfellowoftheHumboldtFoundationatTQE. Forhisprofessionalinputto thesectiononBrillouinscatteringspecialthanksgotoDr. StefanHullerfromEcole PolytechniqueinPalaiseau. Darmstadt,Germany PeterMulser Rostock,Germany DieterBauer Contents 1 Introductory Remarks and Overview ...1 2 The Laser Plasma: Basic Phenomena and Laws...5 2. 1 Laser-ParticleInteractionandPlasmaFormation...6 2. 1. 1 High-PowerLaserFields...6 2. 1. 2 SingleFreeElectronintheLaserField(Nonrelativistic). . 9 2. 1. 3 CollisionalIonization,PlasmaHeating,andQuasineutrality 13 2. 2 FluidDescriptionofaPlasma...24 2. 2. 1 Two-FluidandOne-FluidModels...24 2. 2. 2 LinearizedMotions...37 2. 2. 3 SimilaritySolutions...44 2. 3 LaserPlasmaDynamics...58 2. 3. 1 PlasmaProductionwithIntenseShortPulses ...60 2. 3. 2 HeatingwithLongPulsesofConstantIntensity...63 2. 3. 3 SimilarityConsiderations...69 2. 4 SteadyStateAblation...74 2. 4. 1 TheCriticalMachNumberinaStationaryPlanarFlow...75 2. 4. 2 AblativeLaserIntensity...78 2. 4. 3 AblationPressureintheAbsenceofPro leSteepening...82 References...85 3 Laser Light Propagation and Collisional Absorption ...

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From the reviews: “The aim of the present work is the description of the main aspects of laser-matter interaction … . In the book many considerations are added which are not covered in former textbooks or monographies. … The book is intended for students of graduate courses, but it may be also useful for scientists as a reference book.” (Claudia-Veronika Meister, Zentralblatt MATH, Vol. 1221, 2011)

From the reviews: The aim of the present work is the description of the main aspects of laser-matter interaction ... . In the book many considerations are added which are not covered in former textbooks or monographies. ... The book is intended for students of graduate courses, but it may be also useful for scientists as a reference book. (Claudia-Veronika Meister, Zentralblatt MATH, Vol. 1221, 2011)

From the reviews: The aim of the present work is the description of the main aspects of laser-matter interaction ... . In the book many considerations are added which are not covered in former textbooks or monographies. ... The book is intended for students of graduate courses, but it may be also useful for scientists as a reference book. (Claudia-Veronika Meister, Zentralblatt MATH, Vol. 1221, 2011)

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