Hot electron spatial distribution under presence of laser light self-focusing in over-dense plasmas

Abstract

In fast ignition for laser thermonuclear fusion, an ultra intense laser (UIL) pulse irradiates an imploded plasma in order to fast-heat a high-density core with hot electrons generated in laser-plasma interactions. An UIL pulse needs to make plasma channel via laser self-focusing and to propagate through the corona plasma to reach close enough to the core. Hot electrons are used for heating the core. Therefore the propagation of laser light in the high-density plasma region and spatial distribution of hot electron are important in issues in order to study the feasibility of this scheme. We measure the spatial distribution of hot electron when the laser light propagates into the high-density plasma region by self-focusing.