This book offers an introduction to the booming field of high-power laser-matter interaction. It covers the heating of matter to super-high temperatures and pressures, novel schemes of fast particle acceleration, matter far from thermal equilibrium, stimulated radiation scattering, relativistic optics, strong field QED, as well as relevant applications, such as extreme states of matter, controlled fusion, and novel radiation sources. All models and methods considered are introduced as they arise and illustrated by relevant examples. Each chapter contains a selection of problems to test the reader's understanding, to apply the models under discussion to relevant situations and to discover their limits of validity. The carefully chosen illustrations greatly facilitate the visualization of physical processes as well as presenting detailed numerical results. A list of useful formulas and tables are provided as a guide to quantifying results from experiments and numerical simulations. Each chapter ends with a description of the state of the art and the current research frontiers.

Inthepresentvolumethemainaspectsofhigh-powerlaser-matterinteractionin 10 22 2 theintensityrange10 -10 W/cm aredescribed. Weofferaguidetothistopic forscientistsandstudentswhohavejustdiscoveredthe eldasanewandattractive areaofresearch,andforscientistswhohaveworkedinanother eldandwantto joinnowthesubjectoflaserplasmas. Beingawareofthewidedifferencesinthe degreeofmathematicalpreparationtheindividualcandidatehasacquiredwetried topresentthesubjectinanalmostself-containedmanner. Tobemorespeci c,a bachelordegreeinphysicsenablesthereaderinanycasetofollowwithoutdi- culty. Generally uidorgasdynamicsanditsrelativisticversionisnotapartof thiseducation;itisdevelopedinthecontextwhereitisneeded. Basicknowledgein theoreticalmechanics,electrodynamicsandquantumphysicsaretheonlyprereq- sitesweexpectfromthereader. Throughoutthebookthemainemphasisisonthe variousbasicphenomenaandtheirunderlyingphysics. Notmoremathematicsthan necessaryisintroduced. Thepreferenceisgiventoideas. Agoodmodelisthebest guidetotheadequatemathematics. Thereexistalreadysomebutnotsomany, however, goodvolumesandsome monographsonhigh-powerlaserinteractionwithmatter. Afterresearchinthis eld hasgrownoverhalfacenturyandhasrami edintomanybranchesoffundamental studiesandapplicationsproducingcontinuouslynewresults,thereisnoindication ofsaturationorlossofattraction,ratherhasexcitementincreasedwiththeyears: "Therearenolimits;horizonsonly"(G. A. Mourou). Wetakethisasamotivation foranewattemptofpresentingourintroductiontotheachievementsfromthebeg- ninguptopresent. Anadditionalaimwastoofferamoreuni edormoredetailed viewwherethisispossiblenow. Furthermore,thereadermay ndconsiderations not encountered in existing volumes on the eld, e. g. , on ideal uid dynamics, dimensionalanalysis,questionsofclassicaloptics,instabilitiesandlightpressure. Inviewoftherapidlygrowing eldofatoms,moleculesandclustersexposedto superstronglaser eldsweconsidereditascompulsorytodedicateanentirechapter tolaser-atominteractionandtothevariousmoderntheoreticalapproachesrelated toit. Finally,aconsistentmodelofcollisionlessabsorptionisgiven. Dependingonpersonalpreferencesthereadermaymissperhapsasectionon inertialfusion,onhighharmonicgenerationandonradiationfromtheplasma,or ontraditionalatomicandionicspectroscopy. Inviewofthespecializedliterature vii viii Preface alreadyavailableonthesubjectswethinktheself-imposedrestrictionisjusti ed. Ourreferencingpracticewasguidedbyindicatingmaterialforsupplementaryst- iesandestablishingacontinuitythroughthedecadesofresearchinthe eldrather thanbytheaimofcompleteness. Thelatternowadaysiseasilyachievablewiththe aidoftheInternet. Wehavetestedthetextwithrespecttocomprehensionandreadability. Our rst thanksgotoProf. EdithBoriefromtheForschungszentrumKarlsruhe. Shepro- readgreatpartsofthetextverycarefullyandgavevaluablecomments. Insecond placewewouldliketothankMrs. ChristineEidmannfromTheoreticalQuantum A Electronics (TQE), TU Darmstadt, for typing in LTX half of the book. We are E furtherindebtedtoProf. RudolfBockfromGSI,Darmstadt,forhelpfuldiscussions andprecioushints. Furtherthanksforhelpfuldiscussions,criticalcomments,che- ingformulasgotoDr. HerbertSchnabl,Prof. WernerScheid,Dr. RalfSchneider, Dipl. -Phys. TatjanaMuth,Dr. SteffenHain,andDr. FrancescoCeccherini. Wewant toacknowledgeexplicitlythecontinuouseffortandsupportinpreparingthe nal manuscript by Dr. Su-Ming Weng from the Insitute of Physics, CAS, China, at presentfellowoftheHumboldtFoundationatTQE. Forhisprofessionalinputto thesectiononBrillouinscatteringspecialthanksgotoDr. StefanHullerfromEcole PolytechniqueinPalaiseau. Darmstadt,Germany PeterMulser Rostock,Germany DieterBauer Contents 1 Introductory Remarks and Overview ...1 2 The Laser Plasma: Basic Phenomena and Laws...5 2. 1 Laser-ParticleInteractionandPlasmaFormation...6 2. 1. 1 High-PowerLaserFields...6 2. 1. 2 SingleFreeElectronintheLaserField(Nonrelativistic). . 9 2. 1. 3 CollisionalIonization,PlasmaHeating,andQuasineutrality 13 2. 2 FluidDescriptionofaPlasma...24 2. 2. 1 Two-FluidandOne-FluidModels...24 2. 2. 2 LinearizedMotions...37 2. 2. 3 SimilaritySolutions...44 2. 3 LaserPlasmaDynamics...58 2. 3. 1 PlasmaProductionwithIntenseShortPulses ...60 2. 3. 2 HeatingwithLongPulsesofConstantIntensity...63 2. 3. 3 SimilarityConsiderations...69 2. 4 SteadyStateAblation...74 2. 4. 1 TheCriticalMachNumberinaStationaryPlanarFlow...75 2. 4. 2 AblativeLaserIntensity...78 2. 4. 3 AblationPressureintheAbsenceofPro leSteepening...82 References...85 3 Laser Light Propagation and Collisional Absorption ...