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Updated: Aug 8, 2026

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Investigation of Early Plasma Evolution Induced by Ultrashort Laser Pulses
Published on: July 2, 2012
Opacity of an underdense plasma slab due to the parametric instabilities of an ultraintense laser pulse
1Centre de Physique Theorique, CNRS-Ecole Polytechnique, 91128 Palaiseau, France.
Physical Review Letters
|October 6, 2000
Abstract:
The interaction of ultraintense laser beams with underdense plasma slabs has been investigated with two-dimensional particle-in-cell numerical simulations, showing a strong absorption and a correlatively low transmission. Energetic electrons in the multi-MeV range are produced. At very high intensities the plasma transparency is recovered. These results are interpreted in terms of the development of electron parametric instabilities in the self-consistently heated plasma.
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