Ion Turbulence in a CO2-Laser-Plasma Interaction Experiment

Ruby-laser Thomson scattering have been used to measure ion density fluctuations in a C${\mathrm{O}}_2$-laser-heated gas-target plasma. Nonthermal enhancements of > ${10}^4$ have been observed for $k{\lambda }_{\mathrm{D}}\sim 0.5$ implying $\frac{\delta n}{n}>0.1\mathrm{}$. Ion fluctuations of this magnitude may be giving rise to enhanced absorption of laser radiation in the plasma.