Laser Interaction and Related Plasma Phenomena

Since the third Workshop on "Laser Interaction and Related Plasma Phenomena" in 1973, one area within the scope of this con- ference received increased attention: laser fusion. This possi- bility was emphasized in February 1977 in a Seminar on US energy policies at The Hartford Graduate Center by John F. O'Leary, Head of the Federal Energy Administration, who said that "by the year 2100, *** laser fusion will be coming along, giving us a new age of choice". Efforts in research and development were stepped up to investigate new concepts of laser ignition of controlled nuclear reactions. Here, one expects no radioactive waste from fuel. The deuterium-tritium reaction - the only one which may be possible with magnetic field confinement in tokamaks - has a highly radio- active tritium ~ycle, while, in principle, laser reactions are possible with pure deuterium, hydrogen-boron or others. The worldwide progress in laser compression was not only stim- ulated by the energy crisis, but also by its advancements. In our first Workshop in 1969 F. F10ux of the French Limei1 Laboratories described his experiments, which led, only one month later, to the production of fusion neutrons in such large numbers as had not been achieved up to then (see appendix of Vol. I these Proceedings).

Table of Contents:
of Volume 4B.- VI. Measurement of Fast Ions.- Two New Charged-Particle Diagnostics for Laser-Fusion Experiments.- Multiwave Picosecond Laser Interferometry of CO2-Laser-Produced Plasmas.- Generation and Suppression of Fast-Ions from a Laser-Plasma and Related Self-Focussing Effects.- Fast Ion and Neutron Emission in CO2 Laser Irradiation of Solid Deuterium Targets.- Measurement of High-Energy Charged Particles from Laser-Produced Plasmas.- VII. Instabilities and Magnetic Fields.- On the Diagnostic of Non-Linear Effects.- Laser Light Absorption and Harmonic Generation Due to Self-Generated Magnetic Fields.- Laser Radiation Forces: Generation of and Dependence on Magnetic Fields.- Measurements of Spontaneous Currents and Magnetic Fields in Laser-Produced Plasmas.- Heat Transport in Spatially Fluctuating Laser-Generated D.C. Magnetic Fields.- VIII. Nonlinear Radiative Forces and Relativistic Effects.- Electromagnetic Wave Interactions with Inhomogeneous Plasmas.- The Nonlinear Force of Electrodynamic Laser-Plasma Interaction.- Numerical Calculations of Laser Interaction with Plasmas Including Momentum Transfer of the Nonlinear Forces.- Wavelength-Dependent Phenomena in Nonlinear Laser-Plasma Interactions.- Relativistic Self-Focusing.- Self-Focusing of Electromagnetic Beams in Plasmas: Some Recent Investigations.- Kinetic Energy of Laser Accelerated Charged Particles in a Plasma and the Possibility of Pair Production.- Relativistic Oscillations of Electrons in Laser Fields and Transfer of Energy and Momentum.- Laser Accelerators.- Recoil and Gravitational Effects of Electrons in Plasmas within Very Intense Laser Radiation.- IX. Calculations for Nuclear Fusion.- Basic Requirements of Laser Fusion Power Production and Laser Fusion-Fission Plutonium Breeding.- Thermonuclear Reaction Wave in High-Density Plasma.- Model for Implosion of Structured Slab.- Physical Models and Mathematical Simulation of Laser-Driven Implosion and Their Relations with Experiments.- Corrected Penetration Length of Alphas for Reheat Calculations.- Author Index.