Saturation of the two-plasmon decay instability in long-scale-length plasmas relevant to direct-drive inertial confinement fusion.
Measurements of the hot-electron generation by the two-plasmon-decay instability are made in plasmas relevant to direct-drive inertial confinement fusion. Density-scale lengths of 400 μm at n(cr)/4 in planar CH targets allowed the two-plasmon-decay instability to be driven to saturation for vacuum intensities above ~3.5×10(14) W cm(-2). In the saturated regime, ~1% of the laser energy is converted to hot electrons. The hot-electron temperature is measured to increase rapidly from 25 to 90 keV as the laser beam intensity is increased from 2 to 7×10(14) W cm(-2). This increase in the hot-electron temperature is compared with predictions from nonlinear Zakharov models.
Laboratory for Laser Energetics, University of Rochester, Rochester, New York 14636, USA. dfroula@lle.rochester.edu
D H
DH
Froula
B
B
Yaakobi
S X
SX
Hu
P-Y
PY
Chang
R S
RS
Craxton
D H
DH
Edgell
R
R
Follett
D T
DT
Michel
J F
JF
Myatt
W
W
Seka
R W
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Short
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A
Solodov
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C
Stoeckl