Transition from backward to sideward stimulated Raman scattering with broadband lasers in plasmas

Broadband lasers have been proposed as future drivers of inertial confined fusion(ICF)to enhance the laser-target coupling efficiency via the mitigation of various parametric instabilities.The physical mechanisms involved have been explored recently,but are not yet fully understood.Here,stimulated Raman scattering(SRS)as one of the key parametric instabilities is investigated theoretically and numerically for a broadband laser propagating in homogeneous plasma in multidimensional geometry.The linear SRS growth rate is derived as a function of scattering angles for two monochromatic laser beams with a fixed frequency differenceδω.Ifδω/ω_(0)∼1%,withω0 the laser frequency,these two laser beams may be decoupled in stimulating backward SRS while remaining coupled for sideward SRS at the laser intensities typical for ICF.Consequently,side-scattering may dominate over backward SRS for two-color laser light.This finding of SRS transition from backward to sideward SRS is then generalized for a broadband laser with a few-percent bandwidth.Particle-in-cell simulations demonstrate that with increasing laser bandwidth,the sideward SRS gradually becomes dominant over the backward SRS.Since sideward SRS is very efficient in producing harmful hot electrons,attention needs to be paid on this effect if ultra-broadband lasers are considered as next-generation ICF drivers.

Mitigating parametric instabilities in plasmas by sunlight-like lasers

Sunlight-like lasers that have a continuous broad frequency spectrum,random phase spectrum,and random polarization are formulated theoretically.With a sunlight-like laser beam consisting of a sequence of temporal speckles,the resonant three-wave coupling that underlies parametric instabilities in laser–plasma interactions can be greatly degraded owing to the limited duration of each speckle and the frequency shift between two adjacent speckles.The wave coupling can be further weakened by the random polarization of such beams.Numerical simulations demonstrate that the intensity threshold of stimulated Raman scattering in homogeneous plasmas can be doubled by using a sunlight-like laser beam with a relative bandwidth of∼1%as compared with a monochromatic laser beam.Consequently,the hot-electron generation harmful to inertial confinement fusion can be effectively controlled by using sunlight-like laser drivers.Such drivers may be realized in the next generation of broadband lasers by combining two or more broadband beams with independent phase spectra or by applying polarization smoothing to a single broadband beam.

Depolarization of intense laser beams by dynamic plasma density gratings

As a typical plasma-based optical element that can sustain ultra-high light intensity,plasma density gratings driven by intense laser pulses have been extensively studied for wide applications.Here,we show that the plasma density grating driven by two intersecting driver laser pulses is not only nonuniform in space but also varies over time.Consequently,the probe laser pulse that passes through such a dynamic plasma density grating will be depolarized,that is,its polarization becomes spatially and temporally variable.More importantly,the laser depolarization may spontaneously take place for crossed laser beams if their polarization angles are arranged properly.The laser depolarization by a dynamic plasma density grating may find application in mitigating parametric instabilities in laser-driven inertial confinement fusion.