Dynamics of nanosecond laser pulse propagation and of associated instabilities in a magnetized underdense plasma

Abstract

The propagation and energy coupling of intense laser beams in plasmas are critical issues in laser-driven inertial confinement fusion. Applying magnetic fields to such a setup has been evoked to enhance fuel confinement and heating, and mitigate laser energy losses. Here we report on experimental measurements demonstrating improved transmission and increased smoothing of a high-power laser beam propagating in an underdense magnetized plasma. We also measure enhanced backscattering, which our simulations show is due to hot electrons confinement, thus leading to reduced target preheating.

References in corpus (4)

• The evolution of magnetic tower jets in the laboratory
• Three-wave interactions in magnetized warm-fluid plasmas: general theory with evaluable coupling coefficient
• Anomalous Self-Generated Electrostatic Fields in Nanosecond Laser-Plasma Interaction
• Magnetized Laser-Plasma Interactions in High-Energy-Density Systems: Parallel Propagation