Investigation Of Parametric Instabilities In Femtosecond Laser Produced Plasmas PDF Download

The study of parametric instabilities in laser plasmas is of vital importance for inertial confinement fusion (ICF). The long scale-length plasma encountered in the corona of an ICF target provides ideal conditions for the growth of instabilities such as stimulated Brillouin scattering (SBS), stimulated Raman scattering (SRS), and filamentation. These instabilities can have detrimental effects in ICF and their characterization and understanding is of importance. Scattering instabilities are driven through a feedback loop by which the beating between the electromagnetic EM fields of the laser and the scattered light matches the frequency of a local longitudinal mode of the plasma. Any process which interferes with the coherence of this mechanism can substantially alter the behavior of the instability. Of particular interest is the study of laser beam smoothing techniques on parametric instabilities. These techniques are used to improve irradiation uniformity which can suppress hydrodynamic instabilities. Laser beam smoothing techniques have the potential to control the scattering level from parametric instabilities since they provide not only a smoother laser intensity distribution, but also reduced coherence. Beam smoothing techniques that affect the growth of parametric instabilities include spatial smoothing and temporal smoothing by laser bandwidth. Spatial smoothing modifies the phase fronts and temporal distribution of intensities in the focal volume. The transverse intensity spectrum is shifted towards higher spatial wavenumber and can significantly limit the growth of filamentation. Temporal smoothing reduces the coherence time and consequently limits the growth time. Laser bandwidth is required for most smoothing techniques, and can have an independent effect on the instabilities as well.