title: Propagation instabilities of high-intensity laser-produced electron beams.
abstract: Measurements of energetic electron beams generated from ultrahigh intensity laser interactions (I>10(19) W/cm(2)) with dense plasmas are discussed. These interactions have been shown to produce very directional beams, although with a broad energy spectrum. In the regime where the beam density approaches the density of the background plasma, we show that these beams are unstable to filamentation and "hosing" instabilities. Particle-in-cell simulations also indicate the development of such instabilities. This is a regime of particular interest for inertial confinement fusion applications of these beams (i.e., "fast ignition").
authors.affiliation: The Blackett Laboratory, Imperial College of Science, Technology, and Medicine, London SW7 2BZ, United Kingdom.
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Tatarakis
authors.forename: F N
authors.initials: FN
authors.lastname: Beg
authors.forename: E L
authors.initials: EL
authors.lastname: Clark
authors.forename: A E
authors.initials: AE
authors.lastname: Dangor
authors.forename: R D
authors.initials: RD
authors.lastname: Edwards
authors.forename: R G
authors.initials: RG
authors.lastname: Evans
authors.forename: T J
authors.initials: TJ
authors.lastname: Goldsack
authors.forename: K W D
authors.initials: KW
authors.lastname: Ledingham
authors.forename: P A
authors.initials: PA
authors.lastname: Norreys
authors.forename: M A
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Sinclair
authors.forename: M-S
authors.initials: MS
authors.lastname: Wei
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Zepf
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Krushelnick