Light-plasma interaction studies with high-power glass laser*

High-intensity (10 to the thirteenth to 10 to the seventeenth W/sq cm) 1.06 micron laser light absorption experiments with spherical and planar targets suggest that inverse bremsstrahlung absorption is not the dominant absorption mechanism. Evidence is presented that resonance absorption together with ponderomotive force effects such as filamentation and density profile steepening strongly influence the laser light absorption.