Experimental approach to interaction physics challenges of the shock ignition scheme using short pulse lasers.
An experimental program was designed to study the most important issues of laser-plasma interaction physics in the context of the shock ignition scheme. In the new experiments presented in this Letter, a combination of kilojoule and short laser pulses was used to study the laser-plasma coupling at high laser intensities for a large range of electron densities and plasma profiles. We find that the backscatter is dominated by stimulated Brillouin scattering with stimulated Raman scattering staying at a limited level. This is in agreement with past experiments using long pulses but laser intensities limited to 2×10(15)  W/cm2, or short pulses with intensities up to 5×10(16)  W/cm2 as well as with 2D particle-in-cell simulations.
CEA, DAM, DIF, F-91297 Arpajon, France.
C
C
Goyon
CEA, DAM, DIF, F-91297 Arpajon, France.
S
S
Depierreux
LULI, Ecole Polytechnique, CNRS, CEA, UPMC, 91128 Palaiseau, France.
V
V
Yahia
LULI, Ecole Polytechnique, CNRS, CEA, UPMC, 91128 Palaiseau, France.
G
G
Loisel
LULI, Ecole Polytechnique, CNRS, CEA, UPMC, 91128 Palaiseau, France.
C
C
Baccou
CEA, DAM, DIF, F-91297 Arpajon, France.
C
C
Courvoisier
P. N. Lebedev Physical Institute, Russian Academy of Sciences, 119991 Moscow, Russia.
N G
NG
Borisenko
P. N. Lebedev Physical Institute, Russian Academy of Sciences, 119991 Moscow, Russia.
A
A
Orekhov
GSI Helmhotzzentrum fur Schwerionenforschung, 64291 Darmstadt, Germany.
O
O
Rosmej
LULI, Ecole Polytechnique, CNRS, CEA, UPMC, 91128 Palaiseau, France.
C
C
Labaune