Polarization-Dependent Absorption of Laser Radiation Incident on Dense-Plasma Planar Targets

Polarization-dependent absorption of obliquely incident laser radiation by dense plasmas has been observed. Irradiation of a planar plasma with a nearly collimated $p$-polarized laser beam shows an enhancement in absorption by a factor of 2 to 2.5 over $s$-polarized irradiation. Theoretical estimates of the effect of resonance absorption under the present conditions show agreemwnt with the experimentally observed results.