Beyond the conventional collisional absorption of laser light in under-dense plasma: A particle-in-cell simulation study
Abstract
Collisional absorption of laser light in an under-dense plasma is studied by particle-in-cell (PIC) simulation with Monte Carlo binary Coulomb collisions between charge particles. For a given plasma thickness of a few times the wavelength of 800 nm laser, fractional absorption (α ) of the laser light due to Coulomb collisions (mainly between electrons and ions) is calculated at different electron temperature T_{e} with a total velocity v = ({ v}_{th}^2 + { v}_0^2/2)^{1/2} dependent Coulomb logarithm ln Λ (v), where { v}_{th} and { v}_0 are thermal and ponderomotive velocity of an electron. In the low-temperature regime (T_{e}≲ 15 eV), it is found that α increases with increasing laser intensity I_0 up to a maximum corresponding to an intensity I_c, and then it drops (approximately) obeying the conventional scaling of α ∝ I_0^{-3/2} when I_0>I_c. Such a non-conventional increase of α with I_0 in the low-intensity regime was demonstrated earlier in experiments, and recently explained by classical and quantum models [ Phys. Plasmas 21, 13302 (2014); Phys. Rev. E 91, 043102 (2015)]. Here, for the first time, we report this non-conventional collisional laser absorption by PIC simulation, thus bridging the gap between models, simulations, and experimental findings. Moreover, electron energy distributions naturally emanating during the laser interaction (in PIC simulations) are found to be anisotropic and non-Maxwellian in nature, leading to some deviations from the earlier analytical predictions.
- Publication:
-
Pramana
- Pub Date:
- April 2019
- DOI:
- 10.1007/s12043-018-1716-9
- Bibcode:
- 2019Prama..92...50K