Basics of Laser-Plasma Interaction: a Selection of Topics
Plasma Physics
2019-08-12 v2 Applied Physics
Optics
Abstract
A short, tutorial introduction to some basic concepts of laser-plasma interactions at ultra-high intensities is given. The selected topics include a) elements of the relativistic dynamics of an electron in electromagnetic fields, including the ponderomotive force and classical radiation friction; b) the "relativistic" nonlinear optical transparency and self-focusing; c) the moving mirror concept and its application to light sail acceleration and high harmonic generation, with a note on related instabilities; d) some specific phenomena related to the absorption of energy, kinetic momentum and angular momentum from the laser light.
Keywords
Cite
@article{arxiv.1806.06014,
title = {Basics of Laser-Plasma Interaction: a Selection of Topics},
author = {Andrea Macchi},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1806.06014},
year = {2019}
}
Comments
In v2, a new paragraph has been inserted and a few typos have been corrected