Time resolved density profiles of laser-heated plasmas

Abstract
By including the ponderomotive force of the laser light in a simple one‐dimensional fluid simulation code, the predicted electron density profiles, for irradiances of 3×1014–2×1016 W cm−2, are in extremely good agreement with measurements. Four distinct phases are observed in the fluid behavior near the critical density and these are compared with analytic models. Furthermore, the laser electric field near the critical density is found to be modulated in time with a period of the order of 10 psec.