title: Direct observation of the ponderomotive force effects in short-scale-length laser plasmas by frequency-domain interferometry.
abstract: We report on single-shot frequency-domain interferometric measurements showing space- and time-resolved ponderomotive electron density profile steepening of a short-scale-length ultraintense laser-produced plasma. The density gradient scale length is varied by applying a time-delayed laser prepulse. The measured absolute position of the critical density surface is found to be in agreement with one-dimensional hydrodynamic simulations for the range of scale lengths studied.
authors.affiliation: Laboratoire pour l'Utilisation des Lasers Intenses, UMR7605, CNRS-CEA, Université Paris VI, Ecole Polytechnique, 91128 Palaiseau Cedex, France.
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Audebert
authors.forename: J P
authors.initials: JP
authors.lastname: Geindre
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Rebibo
authors.forename: J C
authors.initials: JC
authors.lastname: Gauthier