Parametric instabilities in laser/matter interaction: from noise levels to relativistic regimes

The purpose of this LDRD was the study of parametric instabilities on a laser-produced plasma, addressing crucial issues affecting the coupling between the laser and the plasma. We have made very good progress during these three years, in advancing our understanding in many different fronts. Progress was made in both theoretical and experimental areas. The coupling of high-power laser light to a plasma through scattering instabilities is still one of the most complex processes in laser-plasma interaction physics. In spite of the relevance of these parametric processes to inertial confinement fusion (ICF) and all other situations where a high-power laser beam couples to a plasma, many aspects of the interaction remain unexplained, even after many years of intensive experimental and theoretical efforts. Important instabilities under study are stimulated Brillouin scattering (SBS), stimulated Raman scattering (SRS), and the Langmuir decay instability (LDI). The study of these instabilities is further complicated by the competition and interplay between them, and, in the case of ICF, by the presence of multiple overlapping interaction beams. Stimulated Brillouin scattering consists of the decay of the incident electromagnetic (EM) wave into a scattered EM wave and an ion acoustic wave (IAW). Similarly, SRS consists of the decay of the incident EM wave into a scattered EM wave and an electron plasma wave (EPW). Langmuir decay instability is the further decay of an EPW into a secondary EPW and an IAW. The principal areas of research covered during this three-year period were the following: a) Modeling of Parametric Instabilities in Speckles b) Langmuir Decay Instability c) Non Maxwellian Plasmas d) Multiple Interaction Beams e) SBS from Speckle Distributions